Dreaming of Akina
by Sanae
Summary: Ever wondered how Bunta Fujiwara became a racing legend, met Takumi's mother and what happened to her? This is my theory.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Initial D, Shigeno-sensei and the Kodansha Publishing Company do.

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Prologue_

Tokyo - Summer of 1971

A kind looking, middle aged man dressed in a crumpled linen suit sat inside a rather old dark brown Datsun 1200 with a lanky eighteen year old boy who had just finished parking the car somewhere near Shibuya, in central Tokyo.

'So,' the man said, 'all I need to do is to keep the clutch depressed, pull the handbrake and, as soon as I lose the traction, release the clutch and press the accelerator?'

'Exactly,' the boy replied, trying not to sound patronising, 'this will make the car go into a counter-steer, allowing you to drift it through a corner.'

'Ah, I see,' the man replied, nodding twice; then, as in an afterthought, he glanced at the boy and said, 'Fujiwara-kun, you do know that this kind of manoeuvre is not to be used under normal traffic conditions.'

'Of course not,' Bunta Fujiwara replied using his most responsible sounding tone of voice, the one he knew would make any adult trust his word. Of course, this nice driving instructor was no different.

'Alright,' the man said smiling happily, 'Fujiwara-kun, I'd say we're done here.'

'Great,' Bunta said grinning back at the man, 'does this mean that I've passed?'

'Of course you have,' the man chuckled then, taking something out of the inside pocket of his jacket, he handed it to Bunta and said, 'here, don't forget to get it exchanged with the actual driving license as soon as you can.'

'Sure,' Bunta said taking the narrow slip of paper from him, 'thanks a lot.'

'You're welcome,' the man replied, 'Fujiwara-kun, you really are a very talented driver.'

'Thanks,' Bunta repeated.

Then the two of them climbed out of the car and, while the man walked back towards a dark grey four storey building, Bunta made his way out of the driving license office's car park and into one of the very busy roads this particular area of Tokyo was so famous for.

He carefully placed the paper slip inside his wallet and then pulled out his bus pass, hoping that, after today, he'd never have to use it ever again for, there were very few things Bunta Fujiwara hated more than using any means of public transportation.

Finally, after waiting for over fifteen minutes, the bus arrived to the stop Bunta climbed on it and, making his way to his usual seat at the back of it, he sat down and started thinking of all the things he'd do now that he was able to drive cars legally.

Life was great! Bunta thought smiling to himself having heaps of fun imagining the kind of faces his classmates would make when he'd tell them that he no longer had to ask his father to sit with him in the car in order to drive it.

His father.

The man who'd taught him to drive in the first place: he'd be so proud that his only son had managed to pass his driving test the first time round! Not that it wasn't expected, there was no way that he, Bunta Fujiwara, could possibly fail to get his driving permit. No way on earth.

Glaring at the bus driver, Bunta wished that the stupid man would floor the accelerator pedal so that he could get home a lot sooner because he simply couldn't wait to ask his father for the keys of the Fujiwara's most valuable possession: a beautiful, shiny white 1968 Toyota 2000GT.

His father had managed to get it second-hand for a very reasonable price after its idiot of an owner had crashed it. It had then taken every single one of his father's skills as a mechanic, and quite a lot of money, in order to get the car back on the road but, in the end, it had all been worth it: the car was fabulous and Bunta couldn't wait to take it out for a spin on his own.

The teenager had big plans for that car: first, he would fine-tune it, then he'd remove the factory installed speed limiter which kept the car under one hundred and eighty kilometres an hour, then he'd change the suspensions, setting them up to suit his driving style and, after that, he'd go to one of the areas of the city's outskirts where he knew the best street racing teams gathered.

Then he'd beat every single one of their records and he'd become a street racing legend.

'Yes,' Bunta muttered to himself as he tightened his fists in anticipation.

At long last, and after what it had seemed an even longer period of time than usual, Bunta finally got off at the stop near his parents' house and from there, he started running the short distance which separated the bus stop from the quiet street where he had lived all of his life.

There, outside his house and obviously waiting for him, he saw the old plump lady who was the Fujiwara's neighbour and who'd looked after Bunta ever since he'd been a baby.

'Nori-chan? What are you doing in here?' he asked her cheerfully.

'Bunta…' Nori-chan said quickly wiping a couple of tears off her round and lined face.

'What's happened?' Bunta asked now sounding a lot more urgent.

'We better go inside,' Nori-chan suggested pointing at the front door of the house the Fujiwara called home. Bunta didn't hesitate: he pulled the keys out of the front pocket of his trousers, unlocking the door as fast as he could. He then stepped into the house, kicked off his shoes and padded to the small living room. He noticed that no one was home and that was very odd.

'What's happened?' Bunta asked Nori-chan, while the two of them took a seat; Bunta on his usual armchair, the old lady on the edge of the nearby sofa, 'where are my parents?'

'Bunta,' Nori-chan started, 'you're going to need to be strong,' she continued, her eyes refusing to look at him, 'there's been an accident and…'

'Nori-chan…' Bunta interrupted her but for some reason he couldn't quite put into words the question he had formed in his brain. It wasn't necessary really, he already knew the answer to it.

'Sweetheart,' Nori-chan continued then, she moved towards him and cupping Bunta's face with her very small and wrinkled hand, she added 'they were crossing a road on their way back from the office and, well, a bus driver lost control of his vehicle.'

'And?' Bunta forced himself to ask.

'I'm so sorry sweetie,' Nori-chan's voice broke mid-sentence, 'your parents got run over by the bus and there was nothing the doctors could do to save them.'

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter One

**Dreaming of Akina **

_Chapter One_

At first Bunta's brain seemed very reluctant to process the news Nori-chan had just given him, as if it were trying to somehow convince him that all of that was just a very serious misunderstanding or some sort of sick joke the old woman was pulling on him; however, seeing Nori-chan's very worried expression made him realise that she was definitely not kidding him.

'Bunta,' he heard her say.

'No,' he whispered.

'Bunta, sweetheart,' she tried again, this time moving the hand which cupped his cheek to his shoulder.

'NO!' he exclaimed, getting up so suddenly that it gave the poor Nori-chan quite a fright.

'I'm so sorry,' the old woman said as she too got up from the sofa, looking very much like she didn't really know what to do nor say, 'I…'

'Why?' he asked her, knowing perfectly well that it was a completely illogical question for which no one could possibly have a straight answer, 'why them?' he repeated feeling and sounding more and more desperate.

'I don't know honey,' she replied, 'I'm so sorry,' she repeated and, at this point, a couple of tears started rolling down her cheeks, 'sweetheart…'

Bunta interrupted her making a faint gesture with his hand for he was having more than enough trouble trying to cope with his own thoughts and feelings to be able to deal with anything or anyone else.

His parents were dead.

'I need to get out of here,' he muttered almost incomprehensibly.

Then, without exchanging a single glance with the old woman, Bunta gave his back to her and, slowly at first, more quickly later, he stepped out of his home and started running aimlessly along the streets which had seen him grow up only stopping when he found himself in the pitch where, up to just a few days before, he'd played baseball with his friends.

Seeing that the pitch was currently occupied by a few younger teenagers, a rather normal thing considering that it was Friday afternoon, Bunta sought refuge underneath the small grandstand where he sat down on the ground resting his back and head against a wooden pole while he tried to catch his breath.

Only then he covered his face with two very shaky hands, noticing for the first time that he was crying: that shocked him almost as much as learning about his parents' death for he simply could not remember the last time he'd cried.

Getting even more upset because of something as stupid as that and, since he has someplace where no one could possibly see him, he decided to allow himself to cry as much as he needed to, hoping against hope that that would made him feel somewhat better.

Unfortunately for him, by the time he finally ran out of tears, instead of feeling better, he just had a huge headache, very sore eyes and he was getting rather cold, despite the fact that they were in the middle of July but, yet again, maybe it was the ice which seemed to have covered his heart that made him feel that way.

He didn't know. He no longer knew anything anymore.

At long last and with a tired sigh, he pushed himself back up and started making his way back home where he found Nori-chan right where he'd left her.

'Oh Bunta,' Nori-chan exclaimed getting up from the sofa as she saw him re-entering the living room, 'you've been gone for hours!'

'I'm sorry,' Bunta muttered.

'It's alright,' she said using a much more moderate tone of voice, 'you must be hungry,' she then added.

'Not really,' Bunta replied.

'Well,' the old lady said, 'I think that you need to try and eat something, okay?'

'But,'

'Please, do it for old Nori-chan, eh?' she insisted.

'Alright,' he finally gave in for he really didn't feel like arguing against the old woman, also because he knew from first hand experience that doing so was pretty much hopeless. Because of that, he forced himself to follow her to the kitchen where he usually had his meals with his parents.

His parents.

Just thinking about what had just happened to them made Bunta want to start crying again. Unfortunately for him, he was no longer alone and he definitely didn't want for Nori-chan to know that he'd been doing a lot of that in the past few hours so, fighting with himself, he trained his features in what he hoped it was an expressionless face.

'Here,' she said handing him a wet piece of white cloth as he sat down at the small kitchen table.

'What am I supposed to do with that?' he asked her feeling suddenly confused.

'It'll remove the puffiness from your eyes,' she replied pointing at her own, small brown eyes.

Then, leaving the cloth on top of the table, the old woman started busying herself preparing something to eat for Bunta. So much for not wanting Nori-chan to see that he'd cried, Bunta thought disconsolately as he applied the cloth onto his face, finding its coolness to be extremely soothing.

A few minutes later, while he tried to force down his throat some of the food she had cooked for him, Nori-chan said:

'I don't think it's good for you to be alone, why don't you come to my house?'

'No thanks,' Bunta replied between one mouthful and another, 'I'll be fine.'

'Are you sure?' Nori-chan asked him with a very worried frown on her already heavily lined face.

'Yeah,' Bunta half-muttered for he really wanted her to leave him alone. He felt pretty horrible about that too because he knew that the old lady had nothing else but the best intentions but he desperately needed to be alone.

'Alright,' she finally gave in, 'if you need anything or if you want me to call any of your parents' friends.'

'I know: you're just next door,' Bunta said, 'thanks Nori-chan.'

'Don't mention it,' the old woman said putting a hand on top of Bunta's head, 'I'm,' she interrupted herself clearly having problems finding the right words then, she finally settled for saying, 'I'll be back tomorrow morning to start thinking of how are we going to…'

'Organise the funeral, I know,' he brought himself to say.

'Yes,' she replied and, with that, she looked at him for a short while before finally walking out of the kitchen.

As soon as Bunta heard the front door being shut, he stopped forcing himself to eat since, in any case, everything just seemed to taste like either cardboard or chalk.

Getting up from the table, he first went to back to the living room and tried to watch some TV, deciding after just a few minutes that none of the programmes which were being shown were distracting him enough from the pain which kept pulsating somewhere near his heart.

He then walked upstairs to his bedroom where he spent a few more minutes laying on his bed, trying to see if he was lucky enough to fall asleep hoping he'd manage to persuade himself that he'd wake up in the morning to find that the whole afternoon had just been a horrible nightmare.

Ultimately, and since that wasn't working either, he pushed himself up from his bed and made his way downstairs where he walked purposefully towards the small table in the hall where he knew his father kept the keys of his beloved Toyota.

'If this doesn't do it,' Bunta whispered to himself, 'I don't know what will.'

Putting on his shoes, he walked outside to the small covered space where his father kept his car and, unlocking the driver side's door, he climbed into it enjoying for a brief instant the joy of being behind the steering wheel of such a great car.

He was already feeling slightly less miserable.

Turning the car's engine on, he depressed the clutch and inserted the first gear, releasing the handbrake then, balancing both accelerator and clutch, he made the car roll forwards and out of the short driveway and not really knowing where he wanted to go, he decided to make it out of the quiet, residential district where he lived and onto one of the main roads.

Soon, and even before he had the time to make up his mind, he found himself driving subconsciously towards the old industrial area near the port which was infamous for the illegal street races that the local teams organised there.

He had just entered the very wide lanes which separated the ancient looking factories when he started seeing a few cars that clearly belonged to one street racing team or another and it wasn't too long after that when he found himself forced to stop the Toyota by a few people who were preparing the road for what presumably was going to be the first race of the evening.

'Hey kid,' a man in his thirties said after he made Bunta roll his window down, 'are you lost?'

'Nope,' Bunta replied with as much nonchalance as possible.

'Don't tell me you're here to race?' the man asked him raising his eyebrows in disbelief and that, for some reason, seemed to give Bunta an idea.

'What if I am?' he asked him back.

'Hey guys,' the man then said, obviously speaking to his mates, 'there's a kid here who wants to race!'

Bunta swallowed nervously all the while trying to look as serious as possible, hoping that he would appear a lot older than his eighteen years of age.

'What's your name?' someone else asked him, another guy who seemed to be a friend of the first one and who was dressed a bit more elegantly than his mate.

'Fujiwara Bunta,' he replied.

'Alright, Bunta,' the guy said, keeping a rather friendly tone of voice, 'isn't it kind of late for a kid like you to be up and about? What are your parents going to say if they…'

'My parents are dead,' Bunta interrupted him and that made everyone there stare at him with such stunned expression on their faces that it made Bunta almost want to burst out laughing.

'Ah,' the guy gasped, 'I see.'

'Do you?' Bunta asked him dryly.

'Er…'

'Look,' Bunta said, 'I didn't come here to cause any trouble, I just wanted to…'

'I'll race you,' the guy who'd spoken first said all of a sudden.

'What?' the other one said, 'come on Takao, he's just a kid,'

'Yoshiki-san,' Takao interrupted him, 'he's come all the way here, why not humour him?'

Bunta observed as the two guys looked at one another for a few instants before the guy called Yoshiki sighed in resignation, seeming as though as he was giving in.

'Alright, do whatever you want,' Yoshiki said to Takao then, looking at Bunta, he added, 'that car of yours is a beautiful piece of machinery, I hope you know what you're doing,'

'I am,' Bunta replied feeling almost happy that, at long last, he'd found something which could keep him distracted enough so forget, at least temporarily, about everything that had happened to him in the past six hours or so.

'Wait here while I bring my car,' Takao said to him, 'meanwhile, Yoshiki-san, why don't you explain the rules to him?'

Yoshiki nodded to him and, while Takao walked away from them followed by two skimpily dressed girls, he explained to Bunta that, from there, they could have to follow a delimited course which ran around some of the abandoned factories and which ended right where they were.

'Do you want to take a couple of laps around it, just to get some practice?' Yoshiki asked him.

'Nope,' Bunta said for, in all honesty, he couldn't wait to start the race.

'You do know that, theoretically speaking, Takao could claim your car if he wins, don't you?'

'Yep,' Bunta replied.

'Well, don't worry about that,' Yoshiki said, 'since it's your first race and I'm his team leader, I won't allow him to do that.'

'Who said it's my first race?' Bunta asked him challengingly.

'Isn't it?' Yoshiki asked him back with a knowing look which made Bunta kind of wish he hadn't been quite so brash, 'I thought so,' the older guy added with a smirk seeing that Bunta wasn't contradicting him, 'like I said: I won't apply the usual rules so, try not to crash this beauty, alright?'

'Fine,' Bunta said and then, something made him add, 'thanks.'

'You're welcome,' Yoshiki replied before he walked back to the large group of people who, Bunta noticed, seemed to almost venerate him.

He hadn't even had the time to consider how very cool that was when he heard the beautiful roaring sound of a finely tuned rotary engine and, turning round on his seat, Bunta saw that Takao's ride was a dark gold Mazda RX-2 with twin white stripes running along both of its sides.

'Wow,' he gasped almost inaudibly getting more and more excited about this race.

Soon enough, Bunta saw one of the girls who had been with Takao walking in front of both his Toyota and Takao's Mazda, getting ready to do the countdown and managing to distract him so much with her almost non existent skirt that, by the time she shouted 'GO!', Bunta had a bit of a problem finding the car's shifter.

Predictably enough, Takao overtook him rather easily but, again, he probably was a regular around here so it wasn't so surprising for Bunta to find himself outclassed by the Mazda's driver however, and as he started feeling more and more comfortable with the situation, he also started getting faster and faster.

They had gone through quite a few of the ninety degree corners which formed the street circuit when Bunta finally managed to catch up with the RX-2, increasing his 2000GT's speed so that he could glue the car's front to the Mazda's rear bumper.

Only then, as they prepared themselves to turn around yet another corner, Bunta decided to make his first attempt at trying to overtake Takao.

He, of course, failed but getting so close to the Mazda made him realise what Takao's weak point seemed to be, getting confirmation of his theory only three corners later as he saw that the older guy kept making the same mistake in every single one of them.

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'let's do this.'

After another long and straight lane, Bunta saw another sharp corner coming up and, just before Takao had the time to close the gap he consistently left on the inside of it, the teenager stuck the front of his Toyota in that impossibly narrow space, flooring the accelerator so his car would be level with that of Takao.

If he had only realised how stupidly close to the wall of the nearby building he really was, Bunta would have surely freaked out and crashed however, he could only see one thing: the finish line just a few hundred meters ahead of him.

For this reason only, he managed to clear the corner an instant before Takao did, shocking the older man so much in the process that, by the time he realised what was going on, Bunta was already ahead of him.

'What in the heck happened?' a very much stunned Yoshiki asked Takao as the poor guy was climbing out of his Mazda.

'I don't know: that kid's totally crazy,' Takao complained pointing at Bunta who sat very still inside of his Toyota fearing that if he got out of it, they would beat the crap out of him.

'Hey,' Yoshiki said while he made his way to him, 'that was a great manoeuvre.'

'Thanks, I guess,' Bunta replied.

'You said your name was Bunta, right?' Yoshiki asked him.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied.

'Well, Bunta,' Yoshiki started, 'it seems like you've won this race. Maybe you'd like to join us more often.'

'If you think so, maybe I will,' Bunta said, trying to sound as unconcerned as possible, even if he was feeling rather excited about the prospect of making this some sort of weekly recurrence.

'You better,' Yoshiki said, 'I want to see if this was just luck or if you've got some real talent.'

Bunta looked at him not really knowing whether he should feel honoured or angry, deciding to settle for the first since it felt rather good having such an obviously accomplished street racer saying something as nice as that to him.

'I'll come back as soon as I can,' Bunta finally said, feeling very happy that he had just found something he could look forward to.

'We'll be waiting for you,' Yoshiki replied.

'Yeah,' Takao added, 'you owe me a re-match.'

Bunta nodded to that and then, inserting the first gear, he started driving away from there. Only when he started getting closer to where he lived he allowed himself to remember that he'd just lost his parents and that crushed the very little optimism the unexpected victory had managed to instil in himself.

'Dad,' he muttered as he tightened the grasp on the steering wheel: he'd just won his first race and he no longer had his father to share the news with. Bunta felt as a brand new batch of tears escaped his control and once again, he found himself crying.

A week later, with the house still stinking of incense they had burnt during his parents' funeral, Bunta heard someone ringing the doorbell and, thinking that his old neighbour was, once again, coming into his house to make sure he ate something that day too, Bunta went downstairs so he could let her in.

There, he did find Nori-chan but, this time, she wasn't on her own. With her, there were two middle aged men dressed with dark suits and carrying leather briefcases with them.

'Sweetheart,' Nori-chan said, 'these gentlemen are here to read your parents' will.'

'Their what?' Bunta asked her with a confused expression on his face.

'May we come in?' one of the men asked instead of replying to his question.

'S-sure,' Bunta stammered as he stepped out of the way so that the three older people could enter his home then, walking into the living room, he signalled for the two men to sit on the couch as he took a seat on one of the chairs while Nori-chan decided to remain standing up.

'I could make some tea,' the old lady suggested.

'I'm fine, thanks,' Bunta said as the two men shook their heads briefly, declining her offer too.

'Now,' one of the men said, 'I'd like to begin by saying that we're horribly saddened by your loss.'

'Yes,' his colleague added.

'However, we need to let you know what your parents wanted for you in the event of their death,' the first one carried on then, taking an envelope out of his briefcase, the man opened it pulling out a sheet of white paper with some sort of official looking stamp on it, handing it then to Bunta who took it from him with a slightly shaky hand.

Bunta then spent a few minutes trying to understand the contents of the letter, finally giving up at the fourth paragraph.

'What's the meaning of all of this?' he asked them.

'Essentially,' the second of the men said, 'your parents arranged it so that, if anything were to happen to them, you would go and live with your uncle.'

'My what?' Bunta asked them now getting up from his chair, 'I don't have any uncles.'

'Yes you do,' the first man countered, 'you probably don't know about him since it seems like he and your father stopped speaking to each other even before you were born but, your father had an older brother who is currently living in a town in the Gunma prefecture called Shibukawa.'

'And that's where your parents wanted you to go,' the other man added making Bunta feel like his whole world was crashing onto him all over again.

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter Two

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Two_

Before Bunta even had the time to come up with an appropriate way to protest, he saw Nori-chan placing both of her hands on her hips and, trying to stand as tall as she could, which wasn't very much, really, she frowned and said:

'Why can't he stay here? I can look after him.'

'Nori-chan…' Bunta started.

'Yoshida-san,' one of the lawyers interrupted him, 'unfortunately, that's just not possible.'

'Why not?' she asked stubbornly.

'Because you're not a relative of his,' the lawyer replied, 'besides, the mortgage on this house isn't fully paid yet and…'

'I can pay for it,' Bunta said.

'How are you going to do that?' the other lawyer asked him with a large dose of incredulity injected in his voice, 'you haven't even finished high school.'

'I don't care,' Bunta said, 'I'll quit and I'll find myself a job.'

'I'm afraid but that's not how it works,' the first lawyer insisted, 'since you're still underage, we've got to comply with the instructions your parents left in their will. Also, it would be stupid to quit school with only one semester before you graduate.'

'Exactly!' Bunta exclaimed angrily, 'what kind of loser changes school for just the last semester? Why can't I stay here instead of going to Shikugawa?'

'It's Shibukawa,' the lawyer corrected him, 'I understand this may be upsetting but…'

'Upsetting?' Bunta cried, 'what the…'

'Look,' the other lawyer interrupted him, 'we're awfully sorry about what happened to your parents but, unfortunately, we need to ask you to do what they saw fit for you. This includes sending you to the only relative you have left who, by the way, has already received news about the contents of the will and has accepted having you moving into his house.'

'So,' Nori-chan said finally breaking her silence, 'are you saying he doesn't have a choice?'

'I'm afraid not,' one of them replied then, looking at Bunta, he added, 'your uncle told us that, because of his job, it would be better if you travelled there this Sunday.'

'What? Nori-chan interrupted him, 'he can't possibly pack everything up in just two days!'

'Nori-chan,' Bunta said, 'give it up,' he added, 'if this is what Mum and Dad wanted, I guess I'll have to do it. However, I'd like to know one thing.'

'What is it?' one of the lawyers asked him looking rather apprehensive.

'My father owned a car,' Bunta replied, 'what's going to happen to it?'

The two lawyers stared at each other confusedly before one of them, after scanning the piece of paper he had in his hand, a copy of the letter they've just given to Bunta, looked up at the teenager and said:

'That Toyota 2000GT has been paid in full and the taxes and insurance for it are covered until the end of the year so, I can't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to keep it.'

'Alright,' Bunta said.

'Well,' the other lawyer said, 'we'll be sending you all the documents we'll need you to sign to your uncle's address which, as you can see, it's written on the letter you have. This,' he added handing him yet another envelope, 'is for your uncle. Please, give it to him as soon as you get to his house.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked him.

'I don't know,' the lawyer replied, 'I only know that we were instructed to give it to you so you could give it to your uncle,' he added then, after renewing their most heartfelt condolences, the two men were walked out of the house by Nori-chan who, the minute they left, rushed back into the living room looking rather upset.

'Hey,' Bunta said walking towards her, 'don't worry about me, I'll be fine.'

'I know that,' Nori-chan replied, 'you've always been such a strong kid,' she added, 'I'm just going to feel so lonely.'

'Think about this,' he said, doing his best to cheer her up, 'maybe the people who'll buy this house will have a kid or two and, maybe, they'll ask you to look after them too.'

'It won't be the same,' the old woman insisted, 'you've always been like the grandson I never had and…oh…' she then walked out of the living room and towards the kitchen, probably not wanting him to see her burst into tears and that made Bunta feel even more miserable than he'd been up to then.

The following Sunday and just as he'd been instructed by the two lawyers, Bunta found himself packing the few belongings which wouldn't be sold together with the house, the list included most of his clothes, quite a lot of books and other personal stuff he wanted to keep like the baseball glove his father had given him for his eighteenth birthday.

'I can't believe he's not coming here to pick you up,' Nori-chan complained as she helped him folding up some of his trousers, 'what kind of irresponsible man is he?'

'Maybe he's busy,' Bunta replied wondering, for the first time, whether his uncle had a family of his own then, realising that if he had had any the lawyers would have mentioned it to him, he decided that this uncle of his probably lived by himself.

'I still think he should come here instead of making you drive on your own all the way to wherever it is that he lives,' he then heard the old woman say and that made Bunta smile as he shook his head in resignation. He actually preferred it this way though: his uncle was a perfect stranger and Bunta really didn't want him to owe him any more favours.

A few hours after that, he walked around his house for one last time, trying to make sure that there was nothing of his left in it. He then loaded everything he wanted to take with him into the small trunk of his Toyota 2000GT. He then locked the front door and took a last glance at the house he'd called home for his entire life before turning to face Nori-chan so he could hand her the keys.

'I guess that's it,' he said.

'Yes,' the old lady replied then, she took a step towards him and, after hugging him for a few seconds, she tousled his hair and said, 'if that man gives you a hard time or you're not happy with him, you better tell old Nori-chan.'

'What are you going to do?' Bunta asked her finding quite amusing the determined look he could see on her face.

'I'll come and get you out of his house myself!' she exclaimed now making Bunta laugh softly.

'Nori-chan, you'd get lost if you tried to go any further than a couple of blocks from here.'

'I'll get a taxi,' she said making him laugh even more.

'Okay,' he finally gave in, 'I don't think you'd need to go as far as that, like I said, I'll be fine and if I'm not, well, we'll see what happens then, alright?'

'Fine,' she accepted, 'you take care of yourself, eat properly and don't drive that car of yours too fast, okay?'

'I'll take care of myself and I'll eat properly,' he assured her and, before she could notice that he hadn't promised not to drive too fast, he climbed into the Toyota and turned its engine on so that he could drive it out of the short lane there, he stopped the car for just long enough to wave at Nori-chan who couldn't repress a few tears as she waved back at him.

Bunta started driving down the narrow street, away from his house before he could have second thoughts about the whole thing then, as he got to the main road, which was practically deserted at that time of the afternoon, he took a couple of deep breaths, deciding to allow himself to enjoy the ride.

He made it to the Kan'Etsu Expressway which led to the Japanese west coast just a few minutes after that and, as he drove past the city's port area, he was suddenly reminded of the short race he'd won there ten days before and about the fact that by leaving Tokyo, he would probably never see Yoshiki-san and his friend Takao ever again.

'Oh crap,' he muttered to himself trying to imagine what Yoshiki-san had probably thought about him not seeing him coming back to their gathering then, with a short, dry laugh, Bunta realised that it was more than likely that the older guy had not even noticed he was missing. Heck, Yoshiki-san probably didn't even remember him in the first place.

He'd been driving for almost an hour before he saw the first sign telling him that he was less than twenty kilometres away from his destination and, for the first time, he started wondering what Shibukawa would be like. He already knew that it wasn't a very big town which was only famous for its hot springs, for being the nation's bellybutton and for not much more else.

'At last,' he said to himself as he saw the exit he was supposed to take. From there, he drove straight into a road which, according to the map he had, led straight into the town's centre where, he hoped, he would find some sort of indication which would help him find his uncle's house.

He wasn't very lucky with that either for he drove around the centre's streets for quite a long time before he finally decided to give up and do something that any real man never did: he stopped, rolled down his side's window and asked for directions.

'Excuse me,' he said to a nice looking lady, 'I'm trying to find this address,' he added showing her a crumpled piece of paper.

'Ah, that's not too far from here,' the lady said while offering him a smile, 'just follow that road there and it's the second to the right.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said returning the smile.

'You can't miss it,' the lady added, 'it's got a very big sign saying 'Fujiwara Tofu Shop'.'

Before Bunta could ask her for more details, the lady waved at him and started walking up the street and away from his Toyota.

'Fujiwara Tofu Shop?' he whispered to himself, 'what the…'

Following the instructions the nice lady had given him, he had no further problems finding his uncle's house, especially for, just as she had said, the huge sign stuck onto the outer façade of the house did indeed say that the address was that of a tofu shop.

'Eck!' he complained for if there was something he really hated was that disgusting semi-hard paste which seemed to be so popular in the traditional Japanese cuisine.

Bunta had just finished parking his car when he saw a rough looking but handsome middle aged man stepping out of the shop, walking towards the Toyota while he dried his hands on a small white apron he had tied around his waist.

'Hello there,' the man said.

'Hello,' Bunta replied while he climbed out of his car, 'you must be my uncle,' he added.

'Apparently,' the man said with a smirk, 'your name's Bunta, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Bunta confirmed while feeling unsure about whether he should be addressing himself to the man formally or not.

'Mine's Eikichi,' his uncle said, 'don't call me in any other way for I won't reply to anything but that.'

'Alright,' Bunta said then, not really knowing what he was supposed to do next, he decided to go and get his stuff out of the car's trunk.

'Where are you going?' Eikichi asked him.

'Er…' Bunta hesitated, 'I should…'

'Let's eat something first,' his uncle interrupted him, 'I've just finished making dinner.'

'Alright,' Bunta repeated and, with that, he followed his uncle into the shop where he saw a couple of brand new but odd-looking machines which were probably used for the production of the tofu the shop sold.

'I've just bought them,' Eikichi said noticing what Bunta was looking at, 'before I had them I had to make all the tofu I sell by hand,' he explained.

'That must have been a lot of work,' Bunta commented.

'You've got no idea,' Eikichi said looking at him for a short while almost as though as the older man was trying to decide whether he liked his newfound nephew or not, 'let's go in,' he finally added and, with that, Bunta followed him to the actual entrance of the house which was right at the back of the shop.

There, they stepped onto a small room which had the traditional tatami covering its floor, a low table placed in the middle of it with a few cushions thrown around it and a couple of shelves affixed to one of the walls, a new colour TV set completed the furniture of what it obviously was the house's living room.

Bunta then followed him to the kitchen where he saw that his uncle had already set the table for two and that was the confirmation he needed regarding the fact that Eikichi lived indeed by himself.

'That looks nice,' he commented politely pointing at the food the older man was already serving into a couple of small bowls, 'it's not tofu, is it?'

'Nope,' Eikichi replied, 'I don't usually eat tofu.'

'You don't?' Bunta asked him feeling suddenly confused.

'Nope,' Eikichi replied, 'I don't like it too much. It's probably the fact that I spend most of my day making it.'

'That's a relief,' Bunta said before he could help himself and, for some reason, that made his uncle laugh softly at him.

'You're a funny kid,' Eikichi commented as he started serving the food into a couple of small ceramic bowls, 'in any case,' he then added, 'I'll keep in mind that you don't like tofu.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said feeling rather grateful that the old man didn't seem as though as he felt offended by his presence there, on the contrary, the teenager had the distinct impression that Eikichi liked having someone to share his evening meal with.

'Here, eat,' his uncle said passing him one of the bowls.

'Thanks,' Bunta repeated taking the food his uncle was offering him then, taking one of the pieces of meat from the stew, he ate it realising for the first time that he was actually rather hungry, 'it's very good,' he commented.

'I'm glad you like it,' Eikichi said then, the two men started eating in silence while Bunta tried to steal glances at his uncle while he thought the older man wasn't looking at him. Bunta found it astonishing how much this man looked like his late father: it was almost as if he could see what his old man would have looked like in a few years time.

'What are you looking at?' Eikichi asked him making Bunta realise that the old man had noticed the way he kept staring at him.

'Sorry,' Bunta hurried to say, 'I just…you look a lot like my father.'

'Of course I do, he was my brother, wasn't he?' Eikichi asked now clearly making fun of him.

'I know,' Bunta added feeling rather stupid, 'I…'

'You look like your father too,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'but you've got your mother's nose.'

'You knew her?' Bunta asked his uncle.

'Yeah, I did,' Eikichi replied with a very odd tone of voice, 'now, let's finish our food so we can go and get your stuff.'

'Alright,' Bunta agreed taking the hint his uncle was giving him.

A few moments later, Bunta found himself following the old man back out of the shop where, he noticed it was already rather dark then, and as he busied himself opening the trunk's lid, beginning to unload his large suitcase, bags and other things he had in it, Bunta saw that his uncle was staring at the Toyota.

'That's a really nice car,' the old man commented.

'It was my father's,' Bunta said.

'I see,' Eikichi said looking as though as he wanted to say something else then, he seemed to change his mind about it and, instead, he grabbed one of the bags and the suitcase and started making his way back into the shop, leaving Bunta with no other option but to take the rest of his stuff so he could follow him.

The two of them made it all the way to the second floor of the house where Eikichi showed him a rather big room which had a large window that overlooked at the street where the 2000GT was parked.

'This is your room,' Eikichi said, 'I still haven't got you a bed but there is a futon in that cupboard over there.'

'Okay…'

'I'll leave you to unpack,' Eikichi said, 'if you need anything, I'll be downstairs.'

Bunta nodded to that and, soon after that, he found himself standing in the middle of the basically empty room as he tried to decide what to do next, settling for unpacking his clothes first so he could get changed into more comfortable ones.

Half an hour later, the room started looking a little bit more inhabitable mainly because Bunta had laid the futon right in the middle of it and had most of his belongings around it then, taking another glance at his work, feeling rather satisfied by it, he decided to go back downstairs.

'Everything sorted?' Eikichi asked him as he saw him step out of the living room and into the shop.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'what are you doing?' he asked then.

'Getting ready the delivery,' Eikichi replied.

'Delivery?' Bunta asked him.

'I make the tofu for one of the inns,' Eikichi explained, 'they need it for their guests' breakfasts so I need to deliver it before five o'clock.'

'In the morning?' Bunta asked him raising his eyebrows in surprise.

'Duh, of course it's in the morning, when else do you have breakfast?' Eikichi asked rather sarcastically making Bunta feel like an idiot all over again then, he heard as the older man said, 'I've got an idea.'

'What?' Bunta asked him.

'Why don't you come with me?' Eikichi suggested.

'Okay,' Bunta replied for he really didn't have anything better to do.

'Great, this way you'll get to see the pass at Mt Akina,' Eikichi said grinning at his nephew in such a way that it made Bunta wonder what was so special about that particular pass.

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter Three

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Three_

Even though he felt extremely tired, both physical and mentally speaking, it still took Bunta quite a long time before he managed to fall asleep, only to wake up after what it felt like less than a few minutes hearing that someone was knocking softly on his new room's sliding door.

'Hey kid,' he heard his uncle's voice say from the other side of it, 'wake up.'

Bunta was going to ask why in the heck he had to wake up at quarter to four in the morning when his still half asleep brain forced him to remember that he had agreed with Eikichi that he would accompany him to deliver the tofu.

'I'm awake,' the teenager said as he pushed himself up from the futon, feeling that his back was killing him for, having always slept on a modern western-like bed, he was definitely not used to sleeping on the floor.

'Alright,' the older man replied, 'I'll only wait for five minutes, if you're not ready by then I'll leave.'

It took Bunta less than half that time to gather the pair of jeans he'd worn during the journey and a light green jersey his mother had bought for him in one of her frequent shopping sprees. Thinking of her made him feel very depressed again but, shaking his head, he decided to rush downstairs so that Eikichi wouldn't go without him.

'I'm ready,' he said then.

'Good boy,' Eikichi replied offering him a small smile, 'now, help me with those,' he added indicating a couple of wooden boxes which were on top of some sort of working table.

'Sure,' Bunta said then, picking the two boxes at the same time, he followed his uncle out of the shop and into a very small driveway where the teenager saw an excellently kept 1967 Isuzu Bellett 1600 GT which was painted all in white except the lower section of it that was coloured in black.

'Put them in here,' Eikichi instructed him while pointing at the open trunk inside of which, the older man had already put another couple of wooden boxes.

'That's a really nice car,' Bunta commented after putting the two tofu containers he was carrying next to the ones which were already inside the trunk.

'I know,' Eikichi said, 'now, let's get moving or we'll be late.'

Bunta nodded before walking towards the passenger side's door, he then climbed into the car while Eikichi got behind the wheel. Only when the old man saw Bunta fastening his seatbelt he went to start the car's engine and, when he finally did, Bunta found himself having to repress a gasp.

Whatever was purring under that bonnet had definitely not come with the car's original configuration, he thought as he noticed that Eikichi was observing his reaction with an amused expression on his face then, without exchanging a single word, Bunta saw as his uncle inserted the first gear and a few instants later they were already off.

'We shouldn't be gone for too long,' Eikichi said as they drove through the narrow streets where the shop was located, 'unless you want to drive on the way down…'

'What?' Bunta asked him feeling rather shocked.

'I'm kidding,' Eikichi replied laughing at him softly, 'I never let anyone drive my car.'

'Yeah, of course.'

'Besides,' Eikichi continued, 'you already have a great car so I doubt you'll want to drive this one.'

'Eikichi,' Bunta then said, 'can I ask you something?'

'Sure,' Eikichi replied.

'Dad was quite the car enthusiastic,' Bunta started, 'and it seems to me like you like cars too.'

'Yes, that's right,' Eikichi confirmed.

'Was it you who got Dad into cars?' Bunta asked him and, for the shortest of moments, he could have sworn he'd seen some sort of unidentified but powerful emotion on the older man's expression, 'Eikichi?'

'Yes,' his uncle finally replied, 'it was me and it was the biggest mistake I have ever made.'

'Why?' Bunta asked him.

'You still have to finish high school, don't you?' Eikichi then asked him back, changing topic so quickly that it made Bunta feel quite disorientated.

'Yeah,' he managed to reply nonetheless, 'but what does this have to do with…'

'We'll need to enrol you into a school,' Eikichi said, almost as if he were talking to himself, 'you could go to the new school. I think they inaugurated it only a couple of years ago.'

Bunta stared at his uncle for a while before, yet again, taking the very obvious hint seeing that, for some reason, Eikichi seemed to feel rather uncomfortable speaking about certain things.

'That school sounds good enough,' Bunta said for he really didn't care all that much about whichever school he ended up going to.

'Alright,' Eikichi said, 'we'll go there later on this morning.'

'Fine,' Bunta added then, the two men remained quiet for another short while before Bunta saw that they were leaving the town and entering a steep looking road which seemed to get lost in the middle of a very thick forest.

'This is Mt Akina's pass,' Eikichi explained.

'I see,' Bunta said, still not seeing anything special about the road, other than the fact that it was a tad on the narrow side, that it was extremely bendy and, from what he could see from the car's four headlights, the asphalt was beginning to show its venerable age.

'We're going uphill now,' Eikichi commented seeing that Bunta looked rather unimpressed, 'wait until we go downhill for, you can't say you've seen Mt Akina's pass until you do so.'

'I'll take your word for it,' Bunta said then, as he paid a bit more of attention at the road ahead of him, he noticed something he hadn't seen before: they were actually going pretty fast and, stealing a quick look at the car's speedometer, he realised that the needle pointed just below the one hundred kilometres an hour mark.

'Wow,' he couldn't help but to gasp, 'do you always drive like this?'

'Of course not,' Eikichi replied, 'I'm driving slowly now because otherwise I would damage the tofu.'

Bunta stared at his uncle in disbelief as he thought that he really couldn't wait till they got rid of their load so that he could see what the older man would do once he no longer had to worry about it.

A few minutes later, and just as Eikichi had assured him, they got all the way to the top of the mountain where, after parking at the inn's car park, Bunta's uncle said:

'Come on out, it'll be quicker if you help me.'

'Alright,' Bunta said jumping out of the car and walking towards the trunk so he could take the same two boxes he'd put in it then, following his uncle, they stepped into the inn's kitchen which was located at the back of the three storey building.

'Morning Ryo-san,' Eikichi said to a man around his early sixties, obviously the inn's chef, who was currently busy chopping some of the vegetables which would probably be used to prepare the day's meals.

'Morning Eikichi,' the chef replied then, noticing the teenager, he put his huge knife down and added, 'what's this? Have you finally realised you're getting old and have hired someone younger to help you?'

'Hey,' Eikichi complained, 'I'm not even fifty yet and this is my nephew Bunta, from Tokyo.'

This made Ryo-san stare at the teenager even more intently then, before he could say anything to that, Eikichi put the two tofu boxes he was carrying and gestured for Bunta to do the same.

'See you tomorrow,' he then said to the chef.

'Sure,' Ryo-san replied looking pretty confused and that made Bunta think that he really needed to discuss quite a few things with his uncle like, for instance, the way he would justify having acquired a surrogate son all of a sudden.

'Eikichi,' Bunta said as both of them climbed back into the Bellett.

'Yes?'

'I…' he hesitated.

'What is it?' Eikichi asked him as he turned the car's engine back on, its powerful sounding roar distracting Bunta once again.

'I really hope you don't take this the wrong way,' Bunta started, 'but you don't seem to be having a very hard time adjusting to my being here.'

'Bunta,' Eikichi said while he made the Isuzu roll out of the car park and onto the road, 'this will probably come as a bit of a shock to you but, I've always known you existed.'

'You knew?' Bunta exclaimed incredulously.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied.

'Why didn't you try to contact me earlier then?' Bunta asked him.

'I'm not going to answer that just yet,' Eikichi said looking at him for a brief instant before returning his attention back on the road ahead of them.

'But…'

'Bunta,' the older man interrupted him, 'the only thing you need to know now is that, whereas I'm very happy to have you here, I'm also sorry about the reason which has brought you to my house.'

Once again, Bunta couldn't find the words he needed so he decided to remain quiet as his brain started going into overdrive thinking of several hypothesis, each sounding more unlikely than the other then, the screeching sound of the car's tyres took him out of his reverie.

'What the…' he muttered seeing what his uncle was doing with the Isuzu.

'What?' Eikichi asked him sounding like he was having a lot of fun.

'You're drifting!' Bunta exclaimed.

'No, I'm not,' Eikichi said.

'The heck you're not!' Bunta exclaimed again forgetting all about being upset and getting the usual rush he got when he was onboard a fast moving car.

'Can you drift?' Eikichi asked him.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'but not like this…this is great!'

'Nah,' the older man said dismissively while still smiling at his nephew then, maybe just to prove his point, he waited until they were about to enter the following corner to start making a few highly coordinated moves with his hands and his feet and, before he realised what was happening, Bunta saw that the car was actually sliding across the road as it went in around and out of the sharp turn.

'Now,' Eikichi said, 'this is what I call drifting.'

Bunta let out an amused chuckle before he gathered enough courage to ask:

'Can you teach me to do that?'

'Nope,' Eikichi replied.

'Why not?' Bunta said, all hilarity gone.

'Because this is not something which can be taught, you've got to learn it by yourself.'

Bunta wanted to protest to that but then, thinking about it for a short while, he realised that his uncle was probably right and, with that, he decided to just pay loads of attention to everything Eikichi did so that the following night he could take his Toyota out to start practicing with it.

'Eikichi,' he said the minute they were reaching the base of the pass, 'you were a street racer when you were younger, weren't you?'

'Nope,' his uncle replied, 'I was never a member of any of the local teams.'

'Why not?'

'Because I preferred driving by myself,' Eikichi replied.

'You never raced?' Bunta insisted.

'Why are you asking me all of these questions?' Eikichi said, 'are you hoping to become some sort of street racer yourself?'

'Kind of,' Bunta admitted.

'I see,' Eikichi said, 'well, you'll be happy to know that there still are quite a few people who race in this pass and, if I'm not mistaken, I think there are a couple of local teams who meet at the summit on a fairly regular basis.'

'Eikichi, you wouldn't mind if I raced?'

'Why should I?' his uncle replied, 'it's your car and, as long as you don't ask me to finance it, you can do whatever you want with it.'

'Fair enough,' Bunta said then, just as an afterthought, he added, 'Dad told me that he was into street racing when he was younger.'

'Bunta,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I know you probably feel like you need to speak about your parents but, I'm sorry to say that I'm not quite ready to discuss certain things with you just yet.'

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…'

'Don't worry about it,' Eikichi said, 'just give me some more time, alright?'

'Sure,' Bunta agreed and, with that, the two of them spent the rest of the journey back to the tofu shop in complete silence allowing the teenager to notice that his uncle's driving style was remarkably smooth when compared to the highly aggressive and almost unrefined way his father used to drive.

After leaving the car back in the driveway, Bunta followed his uncle back in the house and, just as he had been told by him, he went upstairs to his new room so that he could get back in bed then, once there, he saw the letter that the lawyers had given him on Friday laying on top of a pile of books.

Taking it, he rushed back downstairs to the living room where he found his uncle smoking one last cigarette before going to bed too.

'Eikichi,' he said, 'I was supposed to give you this yesterday as soon as I arrived.'

'What is it?' the older man asked eyeing the envelope the boy was handing him with a faint frown appearing on his face.

'I don't know,' Bunta replied, 'the lawyers told me that my parents wanted me to give it to you.'

'Ah,' Eikichi said now looking most definitely worried, 'I see,' he then added finally taking the white envelope only to leave it onto the living room's low table.

'Aren't you going to open it?' Bunta asked.

'Not now,' Eikichi replied firmly, 'now, go to bed: I'll wake you up in a few hours so we can go to see your new school.'

Realising that his uncle had just issued him a direct order, Bunta decided not to argue with him so, after bidding him a good night, he walked back upstairs, taking off his jersey as he did so then, without bothering with removing his jeans, he just laid on top of the futon where he fell asleep surprisingly fast.

Less than four hours later, the boy heard his uncle knock on his door to wake him up for the second time that morning:

'Bunta, wake up.'

'I'm awake,' Bunta replied, pushing himself up from the futon, grabbing the same light green jersey he'd worn for the tofu delivery then, after putting it back on, he slid the door open and followed Eikichi down the stairs, across the small living room and into the kitchen where he saw that his uncle had already prepared both of their breakfasts.

'Hurry up and eat,' Eikichi said sounding like something had upset him somehow and, for this reason, Bunta sat down and started eating the food he had on his plate as quickly as he could then, not even five minutes later and after having eaten everything, he said:

'It was all very good,' Bunta said.

Eikichi looked at him as though as he wanted to say something then, changing his mind, he just got up and, taking both of their plates, he left them inside the sink and said:

'Let's just go.'

An increasingly confused Bunta decided to follow him out of the house where, instead of walking towards one either of the two cars, they bypassed them making him understand that the school wasn't too far away and therefore they were probably going to go there on foot.

A few minutes later, he saw a pretty modern looking white building with a large tower which had a clock on its top section. There were also two wings at both sides of the tower which had three rows of windows each.

'You like it?' Eikichi asked.

'It's just like every other school,' Bunta replied shrugging his shoulders.

Eikichi stared at him for an instant before shaking his head as he let out a soft chuckle then, he walked into the school's grounds forcing Bunta to follow him there, he realised that despite being at the last week of their summer holidays, there seemed to be quite a lot of students around the school but, again, Bunta imagined that in a town as small as this one, there probably wasn't much more else to do.

'Hurry up,' Eikichi said seeing that his nephew had stopped to look around himself. The two of them then climbed a short flight of stairs which led to school's main entrance at the bottom of the tower. From there, they made their way to the school's reception where a lady was busy sorting out some documents.

'Good morning,' Eikichi said, 'I'd like to get the forms to enrol a new student.'

'Sure,' the lady said, 'just hold on for a sec and I'll get them for you.'

She got up from her chair went to another desk and, taking a couple of sheets of paper, she walked back to the reception and gave the forms and a pen to Eikichi who then started filling them up.

Bunta was just looking around himself when he saw a boy around his same age walking towards them.

'Hi,' the boy said, 'are you a new student?'

'Yep,' Bunta replied.

'Third year?' the boy asked.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, noticing that Eikichi had finished with the forms and both he and the receptionist were now observing the scene.

'That's great: I'm the third year's representative and my name's Tachibana Yuuichi,' the boy said putting his hand forward for Bunta to shake it.

'I'm Fujiwara Bunta,' he replied as he shook Yuuichi's hand.

'Well,' Yuuichi said, 'I'd show you around the school now but, unfortunately I've got to go to work. However, I'll be happy to do that next week after the semester's opening ceremony.'

Bunta just nodded at him then, Yuuichi bowed politely at both Eikichi and the receptionist before walking out of the school's building.

'Hey kid,' he heard his uncle say as they both made their way back home, 'it looks like you've just made your first new friend.'

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter Four

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Four_

For what it was the sixth night in a row, Bunta Fujiwara was forcing his Toyota 2000GT to take what it looked like an impossible line through one of the tight right-handers from the Mt Akina's pass and, even though he knew he was still very far from being as smooth as his uncle was, he was also sure that he was getting faster and better.

A lot better, he thought with a smug smirk on his face.

'Oh crap,' Bunta muttered to himself realising that it was nearly half past three in the morning. If he didn't hurry up, he'd be late and Eikichi would leave for the deliveries by himself.

Despite the fact that the older man never allowed him to go anywhere near his Bellett's steering wheel, nor give him any kind of advice when it came to his driving, Bunta still enjoyed their chats as they went up and down the pass, not to mention that just by observing what his uncle did with his car, he could then adapt it and apply it to his own driving style.

That had allowed him to improve his cornering skills so much that it made Bunta think that very soon, he would start actively looking for one of those local racers his uncle had mentioned during the first time he'd taken him for his tofu deliveries.

After clearing the penultimate of the five consecutive hairpins the course had, Bunta saw that there was another car driving in front of him. That was very odd, Bunta thought because he had not seen a single car in the whole time he'd been up there.

'Never mind,' Bunta said to no one in particular as he prepared himself to overtake the car so he could just drive back home as fast as he could.

Then, as he got closer to the car, he noticed that it was painted in a deep shade of red and that it was fairly new, probably not even a year old. Observing its rear, he saw a small, silver tag bearing the Nissan logo and the name Fairlady Z next to it.

For the briefest of instants, Bunta considered challenging the car's driver to a short race but, seeing that he really didn't have the time to waste playing around, he just waited until they cleared the last hairpin to overtake it in a very clean and easy manoeuvre.

With that done, he just kept driving down the pass.

Not even three corners after that, he saw a couple of headlights through the rear view mirror of his Toyota and he didn't even need to turn round to see that the car behind him was the dark red Fairlady Z which flashing its headlights at him, was clearly challenging Bunta to a race.

'Alright, have it your way,' Bunta whispered as he pressed his 2000GT's accelerator, widening the gap which separated him from the Nissan, noticing with almost perverse pleasure that the Fairlady Z's driver was increasing the speed too.

Bunta's opponent never quite managed to catch up with him, not only because Bunta simply refused to let the Fairlady Z get anywhere near the rear bumper of his Toyota but also because they reached the bottom of the pass before Bunta could even get excited about this unexpected but very welcome race.

Shaking his head as he smiled to himself, the teenager made his way back to the tofu shop where he saw his uncle getting everything ready for the delivery.

'Hi,' Bunta said stepping out of his car.

'I was about to leave,' Eikichi replied.

'Sorry,' Bunta said, 'I got carried away.'

Eikichi just looked at him for an instant before going back into the shop to get the other two wooden boxes which contained the freshly made tofu.

'Listen,' Bunta said following him inside, 'I've had an idea.'

'An idea?' his uncle asked him.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'I've been thinking that you could let me do the deliveries.'

'You want to do the deliveries for me?' Eikichi asked him.

'Yes,' Bunta said, 'I've been meaning to ask you to come with me in my car so you could tell me what you think of my driving and…'

'I can do that without seeing you drive,' Eikichi interrupted him.

'How can you do that?' Bunta asked him in an almost challenging way.

'Just by observing your car,' Eikichi replied using a very flat tone of voice then, seeing Bunta's incredulous expression, he added, 'take the tyres, for instance, just by looking at the way they're wearing out I can tell that you're getting faster but, I can also tell that you're still very far from being as smooth as you need to be in order to master Mt Akina's pass.'

With that, the older man picked the two wooden boxes up from the working table and walked out of his shop leaving an astounded looking Bunta behind. He was so shocked that it took him a few seconds before he reacted, he followed his uncle outside and said:

'Why don't you help me improve?'

'Help you?' Eikichi asked him.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'I've seen how fast and smooth you are. I'm sure you can give me a few tips.'

'I've already told you…'

'I know,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I've got to do it by myself. But that doesn't mean you can't give me some advice.'

'You want some advice?' Eikichi said.

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'Alright,' Eikichi conceded as he closed the lid of his Bellett's trunk. He then turned round and went back into the shop only to come back out of it an instant later carrying something in his hand, 'here.'

'I'm not thirsty,' Bunta said failing to understand the reason why his uncle was giving him a cup of water.

'It's not for you,' Eikichi explained, 'take this inside your car while you drive up and down the mountain, only once you'll manage to drive as fast as you do now without spilling a single drop of it, I'll consider letting you do the deliveries for me.'

'You're kidding me, right?' Bunta asked him.

'Nope,' Eikichi replied, 'that's how I trained myself.'

Bunta then took the cup of water and, before he could do anything to stop him, Eikichi walked to his Isuzu and, climbing into it, he started its engine forcing Bunta to watch as the older man just drove off, leaving poor Bunta behind feeling rather idiotic as he stood outside of the shop in the middle of the night with a cup of water in his hand.

'That shitty old man,' Bunta said emptying the cup onto the ground while thinking that he should have just stayed up at the mountain, maybe this way he and that Nissan's driver could have challenged each other to a proper race.

Realising that with his uncle gone, he no longer had a reason to be up and about, Bunta walked back into the shop, left the cup into one of the sinks and walked upstairs to his room so he could go back to bed, also because, in just a few hours, he would have to wake up for what it would be the first day at his new school.

'Bunta,' he heard his uncle's voice through the door a few minutes before his alarm clock was due to do its job.

'Yes?' Bunta asked.

'There's a phone call for you,' Eikichi said.

'Who's calling?' Bunta asked his uncle.

'Some lady called Yoshida Noriko,' Eikichi replied. That made Bunta spring up from the futon and without bothering to exchange a single word with his uncle, he rushed downstairs and into the living room where the house's phone was.

'Nori-chan?' he said as he picked the receiver up, putting it onto his ear.

'Bunta, sweetie, how are you?' the old woman said sounding quite emotional.

'I'm okay,' Bunta replied, 'you?'

'Oh, not horrible,' the old lady replied, 'they've just sold your house, did you know that?'

'No, I didn't,' Bunta said, 'the lawyers haven't sent me any documents yet.'

'I guess they'll do soon,' Nori-chan commented.

'Have you seen the new neighbours?' Bunta asked her.

'Yes,' Nori-chan replied sounding a bit happier now, 'they're a family with three kids. Can you believe that?'

Bunta couldn't help but to let out an amused chuckle then, he said:

'I'm sure they'll keep you busy.'

'Oh,' the lady said, 'after helping your parents raise you, I'm sure I can handle almost anything.'

'Come on Nori-chan, I wasn't that bad,' Bunta complained even though he grinned to himself as he did so.

'Yes you were,' Nori-chan countered then, after a short silence, she added, 'today's the first day of the new semester, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'Well,' the lady said, 'I've just called you to wish you good luck and to let you know that I hope you'll be happy there.'

'I will be,' Bunta assured her, 'but thanks for the thought.'

'You're more than welcome sweetheart,' Nori-chan said, 'now I better go or my phone bill is going to be astronomic!'

'I'll call you as soon as I can,' Bunta promised.

'I know you won't but it's fine,' Nori-chan countered, 'all I need to know is that you're doing well and that you're taking care of yourself.'

'I am,' Bunta said.

'Good,' the old woman said then, after saying their goodbyes, the young man hung up the phone to find that his uncle was staring at him inquisitively.

'She's an old neighbour who used to look after me when I was a kid,' Bunta explained.

'Where did she get this number from?' Eikichi asked him.

'I don't know,' Bunta replied, 'knowing her as well as I do, she probably got in touch with the lawyers and made them give it to her.'

'She's a pretty resourceful lady, isn't she?' Eikichi asked.

'You've got no idea,' Bunta replied with a smile then, looking at the living room's clock, he added, 'I better go and get changed or I'll be late.'

Half an hour later, Bunta left the tofu shop clad in his brand new school uniform and as he arrived at his new school's entrance, he saw that it was already packed with students who seemed busy greeting each other and listening to the stories of those who'd been lucky enough to go away on holidays.

'HEY!' he heard someone shouting from somewhere behind him. That made him turn round and he saw the very same boy he'd seen at the reception while he and his uncle were filling up the enrolment forms and, after raking his brain trying to remember the boy's name for a few painful instants, he gave up and settled for just waving at him and say:

'Hi.'

'I'm Tachibana Yuuichi,' the boy said saving him the trouble, 'I'm the…'

'Third year's representative,' Bunta finished for him, suddenly remembering everything.

'You remember me!' Yuuichi exclaimed looking even happier than he already did making Bunta feel a tad on the uneasy side for he really didn't know how to interpret the eagerness he could read on Yuuichi's face. In any case, it was pretty weird to have someone being so cheerful first thing in the morning…

'I think I'll…' Bunta started, trying to get away from his new classmate as quickly as he could.

'Come with me,' Yuuichi said, 'I'll show you the way,' he added and, without waiting to see if Bunta agreed to that, he started walking towards the school's grounds while Bunta considered very seriously whether he should try to run away from him now that he wasn't looking.

Then, realising that Yuuichi, in his role as the third year's representative, could probably find him anytime he wanted, Bunta let out a sigh full of resignation as he started following him.

The ceremony itself was long but fairly painless and Bunta felt very proud of himself for having managed to stay awake throughout the entire affair despite the fact that he had only got three hours of sleep then, and since it was the first day and therefore there were no formal lessons scheduled, he followed Yuuichi towards a huge billboard onto which the faculty had pinned the lists of names organised by year and class.

'That's so cool!' he heard Yuuichi exclaim.

'What is?' Bunta asked him only half feigning interest.

'We're together in the same class!' Yuuichi replied pointing at their two names which indeed, happened to be in the same list. He looked so stupidly happy about it that it definitely freaked Bunta out. Then, and trying to find some sort of excuse which would allow him to get away from the weirdo, he said:

'I need to go to the bathroom.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi replied, 'I'm coming with you.'

'What? No…I…' Bunta stuttered.

'You don't know where they are, do you?' Yuuichi pointed out.

'No,' Bunta replied and, for the second time that morning, he let out a sigh as he prepared mentally to stick with Yuuichi for a while longer.

Shortly after, the two of them stepped into the bathroom where they found a couple of guys, around their same age, who were smoking as they sat onto the tiled floor. Bunta smiled seeing their panicked faces which only lasted a few seconds until one of them said:

'Shit, Tachibana, you scared the hell out of us!'

'Yeah, I thought it was one of the teachers,' the other one added.

'Hey,' Yuuichi protested, 'I may not be a teacher but as the class representative, theoretically speaking, I could report both of you.'

'Yes, but since you're so magnanimous you won't do that, will you?' the first one said then, without waiting for an answer and noticing Bunta, he added, 'who's this?'

'This is Fujiwara Bunta,' Yuuichi replied, 'Fujiwara meet my best friends Miyazaki Tatsuo and Mitsui Keitaro.'

'Hi,' Bunta said offering them a small smile.

'Where are you coming from?' Mitsui asked looking very happy that he'd managed to save his cigarette from a premature death.

'Tokyo,' Bunta replied.

'Do you play baseball?' Miyazaki asked him.

'I used to,' Bunta replied, 'but I wasn't very good, why?'

'No reason,' Miyazaki said making Bunta feel pretty confused.

'He's the team's captain,' Yuuichi explained to Bunta while pointing at Miyazaki, 'and he's getting desperate for he can't find any decent new players.'

'I still don't understand why you don't play with us,' Miyazaki protested.

'You know I can't,' Yuuichi replied.

'That's right,' Mitsui added, 'you're busy enough working for your father and being the class representative…'

Yuuichi was going to agree with that when Miyazaki let out a snort full of disbelief:

'Busy my ass,' he complained, 'if only you stopped wasting your time with the Akina Firebolts I'm sure you'd find some to help me with the team.'

'The Akina Firebolts?' Bunta asked them.

'They're one of the local street racing teams,' Yuuichi explained.

'You're a member of a street racing team?' Bunta asked him finally having found a good reason to start paying attention to his new classmate.

'He wishes he was,' Miyazaki replied scornfully, 'he's been trying to get their attention for months but…'

'Hey, that's not fair,' Yuuichi complained looking rather hurt.

'That's right,' Mitsui said then, doing his best to comfort his friend, he added, 'I'm sure you'll get into the team once you get your new car.'

'Oh yes,' Yuuichi said looking as if he was in ecstasy all of a sudden.

'I hope you have your driving license,' Miyazaki told Bunta, 'because ever since Tachibana here got his, he no longer thinks we're proper men because we can't drive.'

'I'm glad to be a proper man,' Bunta said almost sarcastically, 'I got my license a couple of weeks ago.'

Yuuichi looked at him giving him an approving nod then, almost as if it were an afterthought and sounding stupidly hopeful, he asked him:

'You don't happen to have a car too, do you?'

'Er…'

'Oh god!' Yuuichi exclaimed, 'you do, don't you?'

'Er…'

'Great!' Yuuichi exclaimed, 'I hope you don't have plans for tonight.'

'Why?' Bunta dared to ask getting scared at the exceedingly enthusiastic expression he could see on his new classmate's face.

'Because you're coming with me to the Akina Firebolts' gathering.'

At nine o'clock that same evening, and since Bunta hadn't quite managed to find any viable way to get himself out of the arrangement, he parked his Toyota 2000GT near the school's entrance where Yuuichi had begged him to pick him up from so that the two of them could drive up to the Mt Akina's summit.

'HOLY MOTHER OF…' Yuuichi shouted seeing the Toyota.

'Tachibana,' Bunta started, 'I really don't think you should shout quite so loudly,' he added seeing the way a couple of old people who were walking by were glaring at both he and Yuuichi.

'Shit,' the boy said, trying his best to keep his voice down, 'do you even know what you're driving?'

'Of course I do,' Bunta replied.

'Wow,' Yuuichi gasped.

'Now,' Bunta said, beginning to get rather impatient, 'are you going to climb in or what?'

'Sure,' Yuuichi hurried to say then, the minute he was sitting on the passenger's seat and having fastened the seatbelt, he said, 'this is so cool! Where did you get it from?'

'It was my father's,' Bunta replied using a tone of voice which made Yuuichi refrain himself from asking him anything else about the car. Instead, and as they made their way to the base of Mt Akina's pass, he started explaining to Bunta everything about the local street racing scene impressing Bunta with the amount of things his classmate seemed to know about both cars and street racing.

'My father owns a petrol station,' Yuuichi explained to him, 'and since I've been working there for quite a while, I've had the chance to meet with quite a few of the racers when they come in to fill their cars' tanks.'

'I see,' Bunta said and they were about to start climbing Mt Akina's uphill when he saw a guy not much older than he was walking right in front of his Toyota forcing Bunta to brake so suddenly that if it hadn't been for the seatbelt, Yuuichi would have smashed his head against the dashboard.

'What the…' Bunta began.

'I know him,' Yuuichi said, 'he's Suzuki Masashi, the Akina Firebolts' best downhiller.'

Bunta then observed as Suzuki made his way towards the 2000GT with the very obvious intentions of going to speak to its driver and only because he was curious to see what the racer wanted to tell him, Bunta rolled his side's window down.

Suzuki put both of his hands on top of the Toyota's roof and lowered himself so that he would be face to face with Bunta, he then asked:

'Who are you?'

'Hey Masashi-san,' Yuuichi said from the other side, 'this is my new friend Fujiwara Bunta.'

'Yuuichi,' Suzuki said, looking surprised to see the young man there then, looking at Bunta, he added, 'you were driving this baby around here last night, weren't you?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'It was you, then…'

'What's going on?' Yuuichi asked at both Bunta and the street racer.

'Last night,' Suzuki replied, 'your friend here managed to do what no one has ever done to me before: he overtook me while going downhill.'

'You did?' Yuuichi asked Bunta with an incredulous expression on his face.

'Well…you know…' Bunta started as he tried not to look too smug about the whole thing.

'I think I want a rematch,' Suzuki said, 'are you free right now?'

'Masashi-san…'

'Okay,' Bunta interrupted him, 'why not?'

'Fine,' Suzuki said, 'let's go up. This time I won't let you get past me quite so easily.'

With that, he walked away from the Toyota to make his way back to his car which was parked right ahead of them. Bunta smiled to himself as he inserted the first gear so that he could follow the dark red Fairlady Z.

Somehow, he had just managed to get himself into a race.

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter Five

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Five_

Following the dark red Nissan uphill didn't allow Bunta to floor the accelerator as much as he had done during his nightly practices on the course but, in any case and judging by poor Yuuichi's increasingly paling complexion, Bunta decided that they were going fast enough to get all the way to the summit within just a handful of minutes.

'Aaargh!' Yuuichi whimpered for the umpteenth time as Bunta entered a corner sticking his car so close to the guardrail that it literally brushed against it then.

'What?' Bunta asked him as innocently as he could.

Yuuichi didn't even have the chance to reply to that because Bunta entered yet another corner without even bothering with using the brake. The worrying bit, according to Yuuichi's opinion, was that they weren't even racing yet and that made him wonder what Bunta's driving would be like whenever he would be battling for real.

Just in case, he decided to start praying for both his and Bunta's bodily integrity and that seemed to work for, at the end, they managed to get uphill in one piece. However and the minute Bunta stopped the car, Yuuichi threw himself out of it, feeling as though as he wanted to kiss the ground, just to show how very grateful he was.

'Yuuichi-kun!' a girl suddenly shouted as she ran towards him.

'What's wrong?' another asked as she too made her way towards Yuuichi.

The two girls hurried to help Yuuichi stand up as they made sure he had, not one but two handkerchiefs to dry the few pearls of sweat he had on his forehead while Bunta observed the scene unable to believe his eyes: who would have imagined that Yuuichi knew such pretty girls?

He then made himself a mental note to ask his new classmate to introduce him to these two babes so that the four of them could go for a drive after the race and, maybe…

'What have you done to him?' the first girl asked Bunta bringing him back from his daydreaming and making him take a better look at Yuuichi who, indeed, seemed to be about to throw up.

'I didn't do anything,' Bunta replied.

Yuuichi threw him a dirty look and was about to say something rather nasty to him when they both saw the dark red Nissan's driver and a few other, older looking guys walking towards them.

'Is that him?' one of them asked Masashi.

'Yes,' Masashi replied, 'that's they guy I mentioned to you earlier on.'

'What's your name?' the same guy asked Bunta.

'Fujiwara Bunta,' he replied.

'My name's Aihara Shinobu,' the guy said extending his hand towards Bunta while offering him a friendly smile, 'I hear you caused some major damage to our best downhiller's ego last night.'

'Well…' Bunta started.

'Shinobu-san,' Masashi interrupted him, 'I know we weren't planning on having any battle tonight but, if you don't mind, I'd really like to race him…'

'What do you think?' Shinobu asked Bunta.

'Fine by me,' Bunta replied shrugging his shoulders as he did so.

'Alright,' Shinobu said to him then, speaking to the rest of his team, he said, 'alright people, get the starting line clear, I want some of you to drive down the road to cover the blind spots.'

'Yes!' quite a few of them replied while running towards their rides and five minutes later, both Bunta and Masashi had their cars parked side by side facing the downhill and, while the latter was busy discussing race tactics with Shinobu, Yuuichi went to speak to his classmate.

'Be careful,' he said, 'I know you drive like a maniac but…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I don't really care if I win or lose, I just want to test a few of the things I've practiced while driving here.'

'You've been practicing?' Yuuichi asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'every single night since I moved into town.'

'How long ago was that?' Yuuichi asked him now sounding pretty impressed.

'Just over a week,' Bunta replied and, with that, he left an open-mouthed Yuuichi standing there as he climbed into his Toyota so he could prepare himself for the race, noticing that he was getting rather excited about it for it kind of marked the beginning of what he hoped would be the start of a long career as a street racer.

That made him realise that he'd just lied to Yuuichi when telling him that he didn't care whether he won or not. Hell, he wanted to win this battle more than anything in the world! Bunta thought as he saw Shinobu positioning himself right in front of the two cars, ready to start the countdown.

Bunta shifted onto his seat feeling such an adrenaline rush that he had to make an effort to keep himself from flooring the accelerator before Shinobu gave them the go sign and, when he finally shouted those two letters, both Bunta and Masashi took off so fast that they almost made Shinobu fall flat onto his face.

'Wow,' Shinobu said seeing the staggering speed at which Bunta was pushing his car.

'He's going to kill himself,' Yuuichi complained and only the weird looks he got from the two girls and from a few of the Firebolts made him realise that he had spoken aloud.

'Why are you saying that?' one of the guys asked him.

'No reason,' Yuuichi hurried to reply for he wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to let them know that Bunta was a total newbie on this particular mountain pass, especially taking into consideration the fact that Masashi hadn't managed to leave him far behind him as he always did with his opponents every time he raced in Akina.

In fact, the poor Masashi was having quite a lot of trouble trying to widen the gap between his Nissan and Bunta's Toyota and it was taking him every single one of his driving skills just to stay ahead.

'Who is this guy?' he asked to himself as he entered one of the right-handers noticing that, to his profound dismay, the Toyota was now even closer.

Meanwhile, Bunta was having his own problems too: for some reason, his car's tyres weren't responding as well as they had done up to then and thinking about it, he figured out that, probably due to all the drifting he'd done over the past few nights which had worn them out so much that they basically had no grip left.

'Shit,' Bunta complained, now wishing he'd refrained himself from showing off with Yuuichi.

A few corners later, Masashi found that he was finally increasing the distance which separated him from the Toyota allowing him, for the first time since the start of the battle, to breath easy. It had been sheer dumb luck what had allowed that kid to overtake him the previous night, nothing less, nothing more.

With that very comforting thought in mind, Masashi started driving the way which had made him famous on this mountain pass: aggressively and attacking the corners like there was no tomorrow.

If he was going to beat a newcomer, he wanted to do it in style, he thought as he saw the first of the five consecutive hairpins coming right ahead of him.

A few metres behind, Bunta was having a full time job trying to make his car take the line he wanted it to go while keeping up with the Nissan's speed and, because of that, he soon found himself forced to apply a few of the self-invented kamikaze-like techniques he'd practiced while he was up there.

'I'll have to do it,' he muttered to himself seeing that the Fairlady Z was about to clear the first of the hairpins a few metres ahead of him.

Veering slightly to the right, he drove his 2000GT all the way to the edge of the road and there, he lowered the right front tyre onto the small gutter he knew the road had running along each of its sides then, using that to get the some of the much needed extra grip, Bunta floored the accelerator's pedal with the hope that he would still be on time to catch up with his rival.

'What in the…' Masashi muttered seeing that, at the third hairpin, the Toyota was a lot closer than it'd been up to then. He stole a quick glance at his car's speedometer to see if for some stupid reason, he had actually slowed down.

His speed remained the same and this could only mean one thing: that kid had definitely increased his pace.

Knowing perfectly well that he was going a bit over his own limits, Masashi didn't even brake as he entered the fourth hairpin and, praying for all that was holy that his Fairlady Z would remain under his control, he found himself holding his breath while he finished clearing the corner.

After that, feeling almost afraid of doing so, Masashi went to check his rear view mirror to see how far back the Toyota was.

'WHAT?' he shouted.

The shock of seeing the 2000GT's headlights not a few metres behind as he kind of expected but just a mere five or ten centimetres away from his Nissan's rear bumper distracted poor Masashi so much that he simply couldn't prevent what happened next:

Instead of turning the steering wheel to enter the fifth and final hairpin, he just went straight ahead and only his very quick reflexes made it possible for him not to crash his car against the guardrail stalling his car in the process.

Masashi watched impotently as Bunta drove past him then, hurrying to re-start his Nissan's engine, he pressed the accelerator as far as it could go, swearing viciously seeing that he now had to be the chaser.

From that position though, he realised that Bunta was doing something rather odd with his car: instead of taking what it was typically considered as the ideal line, he kept making his car follow an entirely different one and, very soon, Masashi realised what was wrong.

'I can't believe this…' he muttered to himself while he tried to decide whether Bunta was completely nuts or he had some sort of psychotic death wish for only someone with suicidal tendencies could even think of driving down Mt Akina's pass with his car's tyres in such poor conditions.

Maybe it was self-preservation instinct or maybe it was because he didn't want to make Bunta crash his car but, in any case, Masashi crossed the line a good few seconds after Bunta did.

'Are you mental?' he asked him after jumping out of his Nissan and as Bunta was slowly climbing out of his Toyota.

'I don't think so,' Bunta replied shaking his head.

'What in the heck were you thinking?' Masashi shouted as he took Bunta by his arm so he would follow him to the front of his Toyota, 'look at those!' he exclaimed pointing at the badly worn tyres.

'Yeah, I know,' Bunta said smiling guiltily and scratching his nose, 'I should replace them.'

'You freaking better do!' Masashi yelled, 'you could have killed yourself up there, did you know that?'

'You think so?' Bunta asked him looking surprised and seeming almost excited about that prospect. That only reaffirmed Masashi's belief that the younger guy was completely out of his mind.

'Oh god,' Masashi said leaning onto the Toyota for support, 'you really are too much.'

'In any case,' Bunta said smiling cheekily, 'I believe I've won this race.'

Masashi stared at him for a short while before shaking his head in defeat. There was no way he could argue with someone who didn't have it all up there so, instead of replying, he thought that it was probably better if they just drove back uphill.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'can I ask you something?'

'Of course,' Masashi replied, fearing what the question would be.

'Do you know of any repairs shop where I could by a new set of tyres from?'

Masashi let out a relieved sigh then, he chuckled as he looked at Bunta then, nodding at him, he said:

'I happen to work at the best repairs shop in the whole of Shibukawa. Yuuichi knows where it is, just ask him to take you there, okay?'

'I will do,' Bunta replied.

'One thing though,' Masashi said, 'please don't race anymore with the ones you've got on now, you're risking way too much just by driving normally with them.'

'Alright,' Bunta agreed.

They both climbed into their cars and, going a lot slower this time, they made it uphill where everyone was waiting for them. Bunta hadn't even had the time to get out of his 2000GT when he saw a very excited Yuuichi running towards him:

'I can't believe it! You're still alive!' he exclaimed.

'Thanks, I think,' Bunta replied.

'He's actually beaten me,' Masashi announced shocking Yuuichi so much that he was left speechless.

'It wasn't that much of a battle thought,' Bunta said knowing that he really needed to be fair, 'you kind of gave up half way through the race.'

'You did?' Shinobu asked to his team mate with an incredulous expression on his face.

'I had to,' Masashi replied, 'after he made me go straight on at the hairpins.'

Everyone looked at him as though as they couldn't believe their ears then, and since Yuuichi still seemed unable to utter a single word, Shinobu laughed softly and said:

'Well kid, you're more than welcome to join us whenever you want.'

'Er…' Bunta started.

'Wait a minute!' Yuuichi finally found his voice to protest, 'if he's part of the team, so am I. After all, I…'

'Take it easy,' Bunta interrupted him then, looking at Shinobu, he added, 'I'm honoured you think I could make it into your team but, I think I need to practice a bit more before I can call myself a street racer.'

With that, he just walked back to his car forcing Yuuichi to go after him leaving Shinobu and Masashi, along with the rest of the Firebolts, staring at them as they climbed back into the Toyota to head back downhill.

'Masashi,' Shinobu said, 'he must have done something remarkable in order to distract you so much.'

'He did,' Masashi replied.

'Well,' Shinobu said, 'if he doesn't think he's good enough to be a street racer, I really won't want to race him once he'll think he is.'

'Me neither,' Masashi agreed.

The next day and right after they finished their lessons, Bunta followed Yuuichi along the wide street which led to the repairs shop where Masashi Suzuki worked when, remembering about the two girls he'd seen his classmate with the previous night, he said:

'I didn't know you were quite so popular with the girls.'

'What?' Yuuichi asked.

'Those two girls from last night,' Bunta explained, 'they were pretty cute.'

'Ah, that,' Yuuichi said.

'Why don't you call them?' Bunta asked him, 'we could go to…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'I've been meaning to ask you something since last night only that I was in too much of a shock to bring myself to do it then.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked him.

'Why didn't you accept Shinobu-san's invitation to join their team?'

Bunta stopped walking and looked at him with a frown before he replied:

'I already…'

'Oh,' Yuuichi protested stopping too, 'don't give me that bullshit! You beat Masashi-san! He really is the best downhiller we've got!'

'Yeah but…'

'You should have told me you were that good,' Yuuichi said.

'I'm not,' Bunta insisted, 'not yet at least,' he added noticing the disbelieving expression on his classmate's face, 'listen, is just that I've got other plans.'

'Let's hear them,' Yuuichi said.

'You said you were going to get a car soon, didn't you?'

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, 'it should arrive sometime this week, why?'

'Well,' Bunta said, 'what do you say if we just train ourselves for a while then, we can challenge one of the Firebolts and, if we win, we could then set up our own team.'

'Our own team?' Yuuichi asked, 'why would you want to do that?'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta said, 'I had this idea last night when I got back home: I want to master Mt Akina as soon as I can and, once I become unbeatable up there, I'll go back to Tokyo because I've got someone there I really want to see again.'

'A girl?' Yuuichi asked.

'No idiot,' Bunta replied, 'a guy. He's the leader of a street racing team there.'

Yuuichi stared at Bunta for a short while before his usual smile re-appeared on his face.

'You know what?' he said, 'I've got an even better idea: why don't we race around the prefecture's mountain passes. Akina's only one of them but I know that there are several other more.'

'Alright,' Bunta agreed and, with that, the reassumed their way to the repairs shop finally getting there a few minutes later and finding Masashi busy working under an old bottle green Toyota Corona.

'How can I help you?' one of Masashi's colleagues, a guy in his mid-twenties asked them as he cleaned his greasy hands with an even greasier piece of cloth.

'I'm going to need a…' Bunta started, only to get interrupted by the arrival of a man in his late forties who, seeing the two teenagers there seemed to do a double take.

'Oh my…' he muttered as he rushed towards Bunta grasping him by his shoulders for no apparent reason.

'Er…' Bunta started, feeling horribly confused.

'Can't you remember me?' the man asked him sounding incomprehensibly upset about something.

'N-no,' Bunta stuttered.

'No, you probably don't,' the man said finally letting go of Bunta's shoulders.

'Boss, do you know him?' Masashi asked, having come out from under the car.

'I do,' the man replied then, looking back at Bunta, he explained, 'my name is Nitta Shinichiro, I was your father's best friend back when we were in high school.'

'Ah,' Bunta gasped.

'Geez,' Shinichiro said, 'the last time I saw you, you were about this tall,' he added making a gesture with his hand indicating somewhere around his mid thigh, 'I can't believe you've grown so much!'

'I'm eighteen years old,' Bunta pointed out making the older man laugh.

'Of course,' Shinichiro said, 'what are you doing here? Is your old man with you?'

Bunta looked down onto the repair shop's concrete floor as he raked his brain trying to come up with some way to reply to that question then, deciding that it was better if he just told Shinichiro the truth, he looked at the old man and said:

'My parents died just over two weeks ago, I'm now living with my uncle.'

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter Six

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Six_

Shinichiro, Yuuichi, Masashi and the other two guys who were there at the repairs shop all stared at Bunta with identical pitiful expressions on their faces. The same kind of expression Bunta had come to hate during his parents' funeral for it usually made people say exactly what Shinichiro said next:

'I'm so sorry.'

Geez, people were so predictable, Bunta thought while trying to repress a mirthless chuckle.

'Yeah, well,' he muttered nonetheless.

'How did they…' Yuuichi started asking, only to be interrupted by a couple of glares coming from both Masashi and Shinichiro.

'It's alright,' Bunta told them, 'they got ran over by a bus,' he added with as much indifference as he could muster.

That was followed by yet another uncomfortable silence which was, once more, broken by Shinichiro:

'So,' the shop's manager said, 'you're living with your uncle.'

'Yep,' Bunta replied.

'I see,' Shinichiro said then, making a visible effort to keep a neutral tone of voice, he asked, 'you're alright with him?'

'Not too bad,' Bunta replied, 'considering that until two weeks ago I didn't even know I had one.'

'You didn't?' Yuuichi asked him sounding very surprised.

'Nope,' Bunta said, 'now that you mention my uncle,' he added looking back at Shinichiro, 'you said you were my father's best friend during high school, didn't you?'

'Yes, I did,' Shinichiro replied.

'Can you tell me what happened between my father and my uncle?' Bunta asked him and the horrified face of the shop's manager was more than enough of an answer, 'you can, can't you?' the teenager insisted.

'Listen,' Shinichiro started, 'I don't think it's my place to…'

'Come on!' Bunta exclaimed, 'what's with all of these secrets?'

'What did you need from the shop?' Shinichiro asked him, once more changing topic so suddenly that it made Bunta feel rather dizzy: was this some sort of skill adults developed in order to make kids feel all confused or what?' he thought bitterly.

'Please I…' Bunta started saying.

'Give him whatever he wants,' Shinichiro ordered to Masashi, 'he's not to pay for it.'

With that, and before Bunta could even complain, the manager rushed towards his office, stepping into it and closing the door behind him.

'What the…' Bunta muttered.

'Er…' Masato said, making himself noticeable for the first time since Bunta had dropped his bombshell, 'that car of yours is the MF10s version, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Bunta managed to reply.

'Does it have normal tyres or wide ones?' Masashi asked.

'Wide,' Bunta replied.

'We'll order them for you,' Masashi's colleague replied, 'you should have them here in about three working days.'

'But…' Bunta started.

'Hey,' Yuuichi said putting his hand onto his new friend's arm, 'let's just go, alright?'

'But…' Bunta repeated.

'He's right,' Masashi said, 'I don't know what's going on but…'

Bunta looked at him then turned his gaze to Yuuichi before deciding to give it up, mainly because he wasn't in the position to do much more else. He then nodded slowly before saying:

'Alright, let's go.'

Five minutes later, Bunta and Yuuichi were making their way to the Tachibana's petrol station where the latter worked part time when, probably because he'd been dying to say so ever since finding out about it, Yuuichi said:

'You really are a very strong guy.'

'What?' Bunta asked him getting very worried all of a sudden.

'I mean,' Yuuichi said, 'if anything were to happen to my parents…well, let's just say that I wouldn't have taken it as well as you seem to…'

'You think I've taken it well?' Bunta asked incredulously.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied with a firm tone of voice, 'if it had happened to me, I would be crying my eyes out.'

Bunta looked at his new friend for a bit, almost as if he were considering confessing that he'd cried too but then, probably his alpha male instinct kicked in and, instead of making such an embarrassing admission, he just shook his head and said:

'I can't mourn them forever, can I?'

'Like I said,' Yuuichi insisted, 'you really are a very strong guy.'

'Anyway,' Bunta said, getting rather desperate to change topic, 'what the heck was that about?'

'What do you mean?' Yuuichi asked him as they left the quiet street to turn into the very busy main road where the petrol station was.

'Back there,' Bunta replied, 'I know something happened between my uncle and my father before I was born and I'm pretty sure Nitta-san knows about it.'

'You're probably right,' Yuuichi said then, shrugging his shoulders, he added, 'we could ask my father but I doubt he would know anything about it since we moved in here from Takasaki when I was ten years old.'

'It doesn't matter, I know someone who definitely knows,' Bunta said.

'Who?' Yuuichi asked then, answering to his own question, he said, 'of course, your uncle.'

'That's right,' Bunta confirmed, 'I'll ask him tonight, I've had enough of this non-sense.'

Yuuichi nodded and was about to say something else when, stepping onto the open air area of the petrol station where the fuel dispensers were, he saw something at the back of it which made him shout:

'IT'S FINALLY HERE!'

Bunta didn't even need to ask for he saw that what Yuuichi was talking about was parked right ahead of them: a sparkling new, dark blue, two-door Mazda Capella Mark I with a man, a perfect copy of Yuuichi only some twenty five years his senior, standing next to it.

'Hey son,' the man said walking to an ecstatic looking Yuuichi, 'they've just brought it in.'

'AH!' Yuuichi gasped and, totally ignoring both his father and Bunta, he ran towards his new car and started inspecting every single square centimetre of it.

'You must be Fujiwara-kun,' Yuuichi's father asked Bunta.

'Yes, sir,' he replied.

'My son can't stop talking about you,' Tachibana-san said, 'he says you're quite the racer.'

'He does?' Bunta asked him.

The poor man never had the chance to reply for Yuuichi shouted at both of he and Bunta asking them to go and check his brand new ride out which, being fair, looked rather cool: despite the square-ish design, it seemed to be quite aerodynamic, that impression being reinforced by the relatively narrow and streamlined windows it came equipped with.

The two Hella fog lights which were set just under the four main headlights and a couple of white stripes painted across the entire length of the car helped to make it look like a true racing machine.

'That's a really nice ride,' Bunta commented.

'You think so?' Yuuichi asked suddenly looking, if possible, even prouder of his new Mazda.

'This version just came out,' Tachibana-san explained, 'I believe this is the first unit the local dealership has ever sold.'

'Dad,' Yuuichi said, 'can I take it for a spin?'

'Sure you can,' he replied, 'just let me go and get the keys.'

With that he went back inside the small one-floor building which contained a very small shop and the even smaller room where Yuuichi's father had his office.

'I can't believe I've finally got it,' Yuuichi said caressing his car's bonnet with the same amount of affection one would show towards a pet, 'I think I'm in love,' he added pointing out the very obvious.

Bunta, meanwhile, was trying his best not to burst out laughing as he thought of himself when his father had first parked the Toyota in front of their home and his own reaction which, if he wanted to be honest, had not been too far from the one Yuuichi was having now.

'You're coming with me, aren't you?' Yuuichi asked all of a sudden.

'Er…'

'Please,' Yuuichi begged him, 'it'd be great if you could give me some tips.'

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'but I've got to be home early tonight: remember I want to speak to my uncle.'

'Sure,' Yuuichi said, 'I'll take you home myself, with my new car!' he added triumphantly.

Bunta chuckled as Tachibana-san came back from his office with a key hanging off a silver, steering wheel shaped key-ring.

'You take good car of it,' he said, 'the insurance cover is liability only so be careful, alright?'

Both the older man and Bunta had the distinct impression that Yuuichi wasn't listening to a single word of what his father was telling him as he literally snatched the key from his hand, rushing back to the car and climbing into it even before Tachibana-san had the time to open his mouth to protest.

'Sorry,' Bunta said with a smile.

'Kids these days,' he muttered to himself.

Only when a few instants later he saw his son driving off with his new friend, the poor Tachibana-san remembered that his kid was supposed to start his shift instead of testing his new car but, seeing as it way too late to go after him, he just sighed, shook his head in defeat, and got ready to cover for his son's absence himself.

Meanwhile, Bunta listened to the beautiful sound which was coming from under the Capella's bonnet. It was completely different from the roaring sound his Toyota's engine but that was normal, considering that the Capella's was a relatively small engine and the 2000GT was the first proper Japanese sports car ever made.

'This is great,' Yuuichi said, 'now that I have a car and that you'll be getting new tyres for yours, we can go and practice together.'

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'I've got to thank you in advance,' Yuuichi said.

'What for?' Bunta asked him.

'Don't laugh, okay?' Yuuichi warned him.

'If you ask me that, I'm sure I will laugh,' Bunta said, his lips beginning to curl into a smile.

'Alright then,' Yuuichi said, 'laugh if you want but, it's kind of refreshing having made friends with you.'

'Why is that?' Bunta asked finding that, instead of being funny he found Yuuichi's confession to be a rather disturbing one.

'Because, I don't ask me why, but my best friends from school don't seem to give a damn about cars,' was Yuuichi's highly reassuring reply, 'sometimes I really wonder if they're real men or what.'

Bunta laughed softly before he said:

'Speaking of being real men, who were those two girls from last night?'

They spent the rest of the test ride talking about the numerous girls who seemed to populate the galleries during the races and about the fact that Yuuichi, for one reason or another, happened to know quite a few of them.

'That's a promise,' Bunta said as Yuuichi stopped his new car in front of the tofu shop, 'you ask those two babes to go out with us and I'll teach you how to make this baby drift, okay?'

'Consider it done,' Yuuichi replied smiling at his friend.

'Great,' Bunta said climbing out of the car and closing the door as carefully as he could, taking another look at the Mazda, deciding that he really liked Yuuichi's new ride.

'I'm home,' he shouted when he was inside the shop, wondering whether his uncle was in or not for it was still fairly early in the evening.

'In the kitchen,' Eikichi replied answering Bunta's unasked question.

He made his way across the shop and the small living room to enter the house's tiny kitchen where, indeed, his uncle was busy preparing their dinner.

'I almost thought I had to eat all of this by myself,' the old man complained.

'Sorry,' Bunta said, 'my friend Yuuichi got his car delivered today and we went around the city to test it.'

'What did he get?' Eikichi asked him.

'That new Mazda Cappella,' Bunta replied.

'Nice choice,' Eikichi commented.

'That's what I thought,' Bunta said then, bracing himself for what he knew was a very tricky issue, he added, 'Eikichi, before Yuuichi and I went for a ride with his new car we went to look for a new set of tyres for the 2000GT.'

'Alright,' Eikichi said, busying himself with some light brown sauce, 'it's about time you replaced them. Are you going to be alright with paying for them?'

'I won't need to do that,' Bunta replied, 'Nitta-san said he's going to give them to me for free.'

He then saw as Eikichi slowly put the wooden spoon he was using to stir the sauce down and as even slower, turned round to look at his nephew.

'Nitta-san?' he said using a very odd tone of voice, 'you mean Nitta Shinichiro?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'he was my father's best friend in high school, or at least, so he says.'

'Did he say anything else?' Eikichi asked with barely concealed panic showing through his expression.

'No,' Bunta replied, still feigning as much nonchalance as possible, 'but he did react in a very funny way when he found out I was living with you.'

'Did he?'

'Eikichi,' Bunta said, deciding to drop his act, 'what happened between you and my father?'

His uncle's face went from panicked to upset then to angry so fast that it took Bunta completely by surprise.

'I thought we had agreed not to talk about this,' he almost barked.

'No,' Bunta said, 'YOU decided that YOU weren't going to talk about it.'

'Bunta…'

'Uncle Eikichi, I really need to know.'

'I can't…'

'Come on!' Bunta exclaimed exasperatedly, 'it's not that you can't, is that you don't want to!'

Eikichi closed the gap which separated him from his nephew and, grabbing him by his arm, he slammed him against the wall and, getting his face a couple of centimetres away from Bunta's, he shouted furiously:

'I SAID I WILL TELL YOU WHEN I'M READY, OKAY?'

Bunta had definitely not expected this sudden display of violence and that made him open his eyes as wide as they went then, swallowing nervously, he nodded quite a few times, as though as he was trying to make his uncle see that he understood everything one hundred percent.

'I'm sorry,' he managed to mutter.

That seemed to help Eikichi realise what he was doing and, releasing the boy's arm, he walked away from him looking even more upset than what Bunta felt like.

'Bunta, I…'

He never quite finished the sentence for, the minute the teenager was free from his uncle's grasp, he took a couple of steps towards the door, realising that he was running at some point half way through to the shop's front door.

Bunta then jumped inside his Toyota and, without thinking too much about it, he turned its engine on and took off as fast as the car's tyres could go.

What in the heck had just happened? He asked himself as he drove aimlessly.

He only knew one thing: whatever had gone on between his uncle and his father had been so bad that, not even over twenty years later and, despite the fact that his younger brother had just died, Eikichi still couldn't bring himself to talk about it.

Feeling horribly confused, Bunta decided to get up the mountain pass where, he knew, there was a nice spot near the lake where he could leave the car and take a calming stroll along the shore.

Not even five minutes later, and only half way to the summit of the mountain, he saw a couple of sets of headlights reflecting on his rear view mirror.

'That's just great,' he muttered. Of all nights, he had to find himself in the middle of an improvised race right on this one. He was about to slow down so they could easily overtake him when he saw that the first of the two cars was flashing its headlights at him.

That, made him pull over to the side of the road, stopping as close as possible to the guardrail and rolling his side's window down to see what the driver of that car wanted from him.

'Hello there,' a guy in his twenties said after stopping his Mitsubishi next to the Toyota, 'it's awfully nice of you to stop for us,' he added as he and his friend, also driving a Mitsubishi, climbed out of their cars.

'What do you want?' Bunta asked him.

'Hey, hey,' the guy said putting both of his hands up, 'we just wanted to see for ourselves what you can do with that beauty of yours.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'Because we were here last night when you beat Suzuki,' the guy said, 'and we want to race you.'

'I'm sorry,' Bunta said, 'but I can't race you tonight.'

'What?' the guy exclaimed, 'why not?' he then added squinting his eyes, looking at Bunta suspiciously, 'only girls or cowards run away when challenged, what are you?'

'Oh piss off,' a very angry Bunta said as he rolled his window back up, starting his car's engine and taking off even before the two guys could do anything to stop him. Hell, after asking such a rude question, that asshole didn't even deserve a proper answer, Bunta thought as he kept driving up.

Predictably enough, the two Mitsubishis followed him and Bunta was about to start increasing his speed when he noticed yet another set of headlights, this time those of a very familiar looking car.

'What the…'

He didn't even get to complete the thought when he saw as his uncle's Bellett overtook first one and then the other Mitsubishi with such an ease that it made Bunta veer dangerously close to the guardrail.

Eikichi, apparently not happy with the humiliation he had already inflicted on the two Mitsubishi drivers, he laid his Isuzu across the narrow road, forcing both of them to brake so suddenly that one of the two cars stopped just a hair away from the wall which delimited the mountain pass.

Once more, Bunta pulled over to the side of the road, this time climbing out of the car to see what his uncle did next.

'Hey, are you alright?' Eikichi asked him, getting out of his car too.

'Kind of,' Bunta replied.

'WHO IN THE FUCK ARE YOU?' the Mitsubishi driver shouted as he ran towards where Bunta and his uncle were.

'I'm his opponent,' Eikichi said while pointing at Bunta, 'we arranged to race each other tonight.'

'That's why I couldn't race you,' Bunta added, deciding to play along his uncle's game.

'You're going to race against that piece of junk?' the Mitsubishi driver asked him while looking at Eikichi's old Bellett in disbelief.

'What…' Bunta started to protest but was interrupted by Eikichi's soft chuckle.

'I believe that this piece of junk,' the old man said, 'has just overtaken your two state-of-the-art Mitsubishis so, I think you're ten years too early to insult my car.

The two Mitsubishi drivers looked at each other then, the first one glared at Bunta and, pointing at him, he said:

'Mark my words: this doesn't end here.'

Bunta just nodded to that, finding their enraged expressions to be quite funny but he decided that it was a lot better if he didn't burst out laughing. Especially considering that, despite the fact that his uncle had just saved his ass, he still was supposed to be mad at him.

For this reason, the minute the two Mitsubishis were beginning to drive down the road, Bunta made his way back to his car and he was going to open the door to climb into it when he heard Eikichi say:

'Bunta, I'm sorry.'

The young man just stayed there, unable to move, almost unable to breathe too.

'I can't believe I've managed to do the same mistake twice,' Eikichi said sounding as though as he was talking to himself.

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked, finally turning round.

'Twenty years ago, I drove your father away from our home and he never came back to it again,' Eikichi replied, 'when you left earlier on, I thought I had done the same thing with you.'

'Uncle Eikichi…'

'No,' the older man said, 'let me tell you what happened because if I don't, I don't think I'll be able to do it ever again.'

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter Seven

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seven_

After moving both cars out of the way, Bunta and his uncle went over the guardrail and sat on it facing the cliff, remaining silent for a few instants while they looked at the thick, dark forest they had in front of them and the bright lights of the city which were a bit further down.

Then Eikichi, took a long, deep breath, almost as though as he was preparing himself for a very long speech and said:

'Bunta, what do you know about your father's past?'

'Not very much,' Bunta admitted, 'he didn't talk too much about it and even though at first I found it rather odd, Mum told me that for some reason, Dad didn't really like talking about his youth.'

'But you knew about his racing,' Eikichi commented.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'but I always had the impression that he'd started racing right after meeting Mum.'

'I see,' Eikichi said looking even more worried than he'd done up to then, 'well, you did know that our father, your grandfather, got killed during an air raid in World War II, didn't you?'

'Yeah, I did,' Bunta replied, remembering when his father had told him about how his old man had heroically died while trying to get as many people inside the refuge as possible.

'Well,' Eikichi continued, 'I was fifteen years old and your father was only twelve when that happened and, just as the rest of the families, we had to do loads of sacrifices in order to survive during those last few months of the war and the dark times which followed our country's unconditional surrender. They really were very difficult days for everyone.'

'I can imagine,' Bunta commented.

'Yes,' Eikichi said, 'the first thing I had to do was to quit school so I could help Mum with the shop.'

'You mean the one you're running now?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'that tofu shop's been in our family for three generations.'

'Wow,' Bunta gasped, 'talk about family tradition.'

'Anyway,' Eikichi carried on, allowing himself a brief smile, 'we really wanted Junichi to continue his studies so, while our mother and I worked, we made sure that he continued enjoying a reasonably easy life and that was, in part, responsible of how he ended up being when he got older.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked.

'He became a spoilt brat,' Eikichi replied, 'and, whereas at first I found quite endearing the way he always tried to do everything better than I did, it soon became rather annoying.'

'What did he do?'

'It wasn't only one single thing,' Eikichi said, 'it was more a series of little things which started getting on my nerves. For instance, he was always trying to get himself in the good side of our mother while making sure I got into trouble. This one time, when I was seventeen and Junichi was fourteen, I sent him to get our ration of rice because I needed to stay at the shop. Something happened along the way that he somehow lost the packet and, our mother, instead of telling him off for losing the food, she yelled at me for not going myself saying that Junichi was too young to be put in charge of something as important as that…'

'But it wasn't your fault: you needed to take care of the shop,' Bunta pointed out.

'I know that,' Eikichi countered, 'but our mother didn't see it that way. You've got to understand that, out of the two of us, Junichi was the one who looked and acted the most like our father and, as you can imagine, our mother did tend to favour him a lot more than what she did for the black sheep of the family.'

'You?' Bunta asked.

'Me,' Eikichi confirmed with a nod, 'in any case,' he continued, 'because of incidents like those, by the time I got my driving license, I really hated my younger brother.'

'You…you hated him?' Bunta asked feeling a cold sensation growing within himself.

'Yes, I did,' Eikichi replied using a very weird tone of voice, 'I couldn't stand nor him nor our mother. You've got no idea how hard it is living with two people who are supposed to be your family and who keep treating you as an outsider.'

'No, I don't,' Bunta said shaking his head briefly.

'Well,' Eikichi continued, 'somehow, I managed to get my hands on an old Toyota and I started working on repairing it whenever I had the time. As soon as I got it fixed, I started practicing with it as I drove it while doing the deliveries.'

'Is that how you got into racing?'

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'back then the post-war economic situation meant that building cars wasn't exactly a priority for the country but, in spite of that, there were a few people who, like me, were rather interested in them. Luckily, I did manage to meet and become friends with a few of them.'

'What happened then?' Bunta asked.

'Patience, I'm getting there,' Eikichi said offering him a small smile, 'when three years later Junichi got his driving licence, I was already reasonably famous within the few street racers that there were back then and, realising I had the perfect chance to show Junichi a world where he wouldn't be considered the centre of the universe, I decided to take him to one of my races.'

'So you did race!' Bunta exclaimed.

'I did,' Eikichi admitted, 'and I won quite a few of those races: they were the happiest days of my whole life.'

'But then my father did something to ruin it, didn't he?'

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'I had a girlfriend back then and…'

'He stole it from you,' Bunta said, frowning in worry.

'Hey,' Eikichi protested, 'stop interrupting me!'

'Sorry,' Bunta hurried to say, biting his lower lip so he wouldn't speak anymore.

'No,' Eikichi said, 'he didn't steal Miyoko from me,' he added, 'he did something even worse than that.'

'Worse?' Bunta asked, unable to help himself.

'Yes,' Eikichi said, 'our mother died right about the time when I was considering asking Miyoko to marry me and, at the moment of her death, a lawyer read out her will to both your father and I. In the will, she left us the tofu shop and a very specific order for me.'

Judging by the amount of trouble his uncle seemed to have only thinking about it, made Bunta realise that whatever that order was, it had been a very bad one.

'What was the order?' Bunta asked softly.

'I had to marry the daughter of the shop's soy beans supplier,' Eikichi replied bitterly.

'What?' Bunta exclaimed, turning sharply so he could look at his uncle in the eye.

'You heard me,' Eikichi said, 'of course, I couldn't accept something like that so, I asked the lawyer to see if there was a way out of that, even if I had to give the shop's ownership up to Junichi for there was no way I could leave Miyoko to marry some virtual stranger.'

'What happened then?' Bunta asked.

'The lawyer told me that he needed to check a few things for us and that he would need to get in touch with the girl's family to see what could be done,' Eikichi replied, 'I, on the other hand, got myself an engagement ring for Miyoko. Unfortunately, while I was at it, your father, who had met Miyoko during one of the races I had taken him to, went to speak to her and told her that she needed to let me go because, if I didn't marry that other girl, we risked losing the shop.'

'NO WAY!' Bunta shouted, now getting up from the guardrail to plant himself in front of his uncle, 'that's a horrible thing to do and Dad wasn't like that at all!'

'Please, let me finish,' Eikichi said then, seeing his nephew's reluctant nod, he continued, 'without knowing about any of this, a couple of days later, I went to Miyoko's house so I could speak to her father and ask for his permission to marry her. Instead of doing that, I found myself having to run away as fast as I could since her father was furious at me for breaking Miyoko's heart.'

'But…'

'The sad bit,' Eikichi said, 'is that I never even had the chance to explain to her that it had all been a horrible misunderstanding because, by the time I found out about what my brother had done, Miyoko's father had already arranged for his daughter to marry some guy from Fukuoka.'

'Oh shit,' Bunta said.

'Yeah…'

'Eikichi,' Bunta said, 'did my father tell you about his…'

'Oh no,' the older man interrupted him, 'I managed to get in touch with Miyoko by telephone and she told me that, if we thought of it coldly, this was really the best thing we could do. That was the last time I ever spoke to her and I will remember forever hearing her sobs as she put the receiver down.'

'What did you do then?'

'I waited for your father to get back home,' Eikichi replied, 'I then confronted him, hoping against hope that he would promptly deny everything.'

'He didn't, did he?' Bunta asked.

'No,' Eikichi replied, 'he said that he'd done the right thing and that I was, as usual, being a selfish bastard by not thinking of what our mother wanted. He also said that we would really lose the shop if I didn't marry that girl.'

He then stopped, taking yet another deep breath before continuing:

'I don't know what happened to me then. I just started beating the crap out of him so badly that, at the end, I ended up breaking his nose and a few of his ribs and cracking some of the bones in my hand.'

Bunta couldn't even bring himself to speak so, instead, he went back to sit onto the guardrail.

'I then drove him to the hospital in Takasaki and I left him there,' Eikichi explained, 'I told him that I never wanted to see his face ever again and that, as far as I was concerned, I no longer had a brother.'

'I can understand that,' Bunta commented, feeling a sudden burst of hatred for the man who, up to a few minutes ago, he had considered some sort of superhero. How could his father do something so low to his own brother?

'He was only nineteen years old,' Eikichi said, almost as though as he had read his nephew's thoughts, 'and had always been overprotected by our mother. That's probably the reason why he failed to understand that his thoughtless actions would cause quite a lot of pain.'

'Yes but…'

'After he left the hospital,' Eikichi continued, 'he went to stay with his friend Nitta and his family where he met your mother. From what I know, she was the best friend of Nitta's younger sister and I guess that falling in love with Akemi managed to make him understand what he'd asked me to give up.'

'Why didn't you…'

'It was too late,' Eikichi said, 'I just couldn't forgive myself for what I had done to him and I couldn't forget what he'd done to me. Your father was probably too scared to make the first move for I only learned from Shinichiro about the fact that Junichi and Akemi had got married and had moved out to Tokyo.'

'I was born about a year after that,' Bunta commented.

'I know,' Eikichi replied, 'without letting your father know, your mother travelled all the way from Tokyo just to see me so that she could tell me that she was expecting you and that, maybe, Junichi and I could use that chance to re-build our relationship.'

'Why didn't you?' Bunta asked.

'I don't know,' Eikichi replied sighing, 'I guess that seeing that my brother was, once again, getting the best out of life without having worked for it made me get even angrier at him. I mean: here he was, living in the big city with his beautiful young wife and about to have a baby.'

'It kind of made you think of what you'd missed out with Miyoko, didn't it?'

'Precisely,' Eikichi replied.

'You never tried to find yourself someone else?'

'No,' Eikichi replied, 'I didn't think I could find anyone as special as Miyoko. You should have seen her: she was probably the first female street racer in the whole of Japan!'

Bunta laughed softly at that as he tried to imagine a woman from over twenty years before, racing around the mountain passes with men who were probably even crazier than she was.

'I fell in love with her the first time I saw her,' Eikichi confessed.

'I'm sorry,' Bunta said.

'Yeah, well…'

'And I understand now why you didn't want to talk about this,' Bunta added, 'I'm sorry I made you do it.'

'Don't worry,' Eikichi said, 'I feel a lot better now that I've finally explained it to you. This way, I hope you'll understand quite a few things.'

'Believe me, I do,' Bunta assured him, 'I understand that my father was an asshole.'

'No!' Eikichi exclaimed, 'you mustn't think that,' he said, 'it would make you hate him and, trust me, hating someone who you're supposed to love brings nothing but guilt and despair. I should know: I've always felt terribly guilty for not being able to care about your father the way I should have.'

'But he did something horrible to you,' Bunta countered.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'but he still was my younger brother and he was the only family I had left. When I learned that he and Akemi had died I wanted to die too.'

'I know what you mean,' Bunta said darkly.

Eikichi looked at him for a short while before doing something he rarely did, he passed an arm around his nephew's shoulders holding him like that as he said:

'Like I've already told you, I'm very sorry about their deaths but, in a way, I'm happy that they sent you to live with me.'

'I wonder why they did it,' Bunta commented, feeling a tad on the self-conscious side with having Eikichi's arm around him.

'I didn't understand at first,' Eikichi said, finally letting go of him, 'but I did after reading the letter you gave me when you first came here.'

'What does it say?' Bunta asked.

'I'll let you read it when we go back home but, in short, Junichi tells me in it how very sorry he was about what he'd done and, hoping that, if anything prevented them from doing so themselves, that I would take care of you as much as I had always taken care of him.'

'Wow…'

'That said,' Eikichi added, 'I sincerely hope I do a much better job than that because, to be honest, I don't think I did very well with your father.'

'You did,' Bunta contradicted him, 'Dad was a great person and a fantastic father and I'm kind of guessing that he learned quite a bit of it from you.'

Eikichi seemed to blush a bit and he tried to conceal it by scratching his nose while he looked at the ground between his feet.

'Hey, there's one thing you haven't told me,' Bunta said all of a sudden.

'What is it?' Eikichi asked him.

'What happened to your fiancée, I mean, that girl you were supposed to marry?'

Eikichi let out a chuckle before replying.

'It turned out that she already had a boyfriend and, when she learned about her father and my mother's arrangement, she ran away from her house to go and live with him.'

'What a mess,' a grinning Bunta said.

'You've got no idea,' Eikichi agreed returning the smile, 'her poor father apologised every single day I saw him when he came to the shop with his supply of soy beans.'

The two men spent a few more minutes in silence watching the dark landscape, pondering everything that had been said and the implications of it then, and taking him by surprise, Eikichi got up and turned to face his nephew.

'Let's go back home, okay?'

Bunta stared at him for a short while before nodding.

'Alright,' he said, 'I'm actually quite hungry.'

'Me too,' Eikichi added, 'and the curry I was making is probably ruined by now. Shall we go somewhere to eat instead?'

'Can we?' Bunta said.

'Yep,' Eikichi replied, 'it's my treat.'

'Let's go and get sushi!' Bunta exclaimed.

'Hey,' Eikichi complained, 'don't push it, okay?' he added jokingly.

'Come on Eikichi,' Bunta said smiling cheekily, 'we've got to celebrate.'

'Celebrate what?' Eikichi asked then, looking at the teenager, he nodded and said, 'you're right. We've got to celebrate.'

With that, both men walked back to their cars and, with the Bellett leading, they made their way back to the city, stopping at the nearest sushi bar they found where, while they munched quite a few pieces of different types of sushi, they started talking about the old man's days as a street racer.

Three days later, Bunta and Yuuichi drove the 2000GT back to the repairs shop Nitta-san owned and where Masashi worked so that they could, at long last, replace the car's tyres.

'What are we going to do after that?' Yuuichi asked him.

'I'm going to start practicing with the cup the way Uncle Eikichi told me to,' Bunta replied.

'You two seem to be quite close now,' Yuuichi commented.

'We are,' Bunta confirmed, 'after all, we are all the family we both have left in the world.'

'I see,' Yuuichi said as they entered the shop with the Toyota to find that Nitta-san was there with a couple of his mechanics, probably giving some instructions to them. The two teenagers parked the car and, as he climbed out of it, Bunta saw that Shinichiro glanced at him, looking as though as he wanted to run away from him once again.

'Nitta-san,' Bunta said, walking towards the old man as fast as he could, 'I've got to thank you.'

'Thank me?' Shinichiro asked confusedly.

'My uncle told me everything about how you helped my father after they had their fight twenty years ago,' Bunta explained and he saw that the older man's confusion turned into a worried frown.

'You don't hate me for interfering?' he then asked.

'Nope,' Bunta replied, 'if you hadn't done it, my father would have never met my mother and I wouldn't be here right now.'

Shinichiro, faced with such an unarguable logic, could do nothing but to nod.

'In any case,' Bunta said, 'my uncle asked me to tell you that he's very sorry for not letting you know about my parents' funeral.'

Nitta-san nodded again, this time looking a lot graver and was probably going to say something else when they all saw Masashi Suzuki running towards them with a rather upset expression on his face.

'Here you are!' he exclaimed pointing at Bunta, 'I've been looking for you all over the place.'

'Why?' Bunta asked him.

'Do you remember running into a pair of Mitsubishi a few nights ago?' Masashi asked him.

'A pair of Mitsubishi,' Bunta asked him then, thinking hard, he remembered about the two cars which his uncle had overtaken before their three hour long conversation, 'I do remember, what's up with them?'

'Those two guys are from Akagi,' Masashi replied, 'and they've been telling anyone who would listen that we, Akina racers, are just a bunch of cowards.'

'What?' Bunta exclaimed covering Yuuichi's own gasp of surprise.

'You didn't turn down their challenge, did you?' Masashi asked.

'Yes I did,' Bunta replied, 'but only because I wasn't in the mood to race and because my tyres weren't up to much anyway.'

'Oh crap,' Masashi said, 'they're right then.'

'No!' Yuuichi exclaimed then, looking at Bunta intently, he added, 'you're going to race them, aren't you?'

Everyone stared at Bunta intently as though as they were expecting an immediate yes to come out from his mouth, instead, he shook his head and said:

'I don't know. I'll need to think about it.'

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter Eight

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Eight_

Once again, Bunta's statement made everyone at the repairs shop stare at him with an identical disbelieving expression on their faces giving Bunta a weird sense of déjà-vu then, just like that other time, Shinichiro was the first one to react:

'Bunta, what do you mean you're not sure?'

'Exactly that,' Bunta replied, 'I just don't feel like racing right now.'

'But…' Yuuichi started, only to be interrupted by an irate looking Masashi.

'YOU'VE GOT TO RACE THEM!' he shouted.

'Why?' Bunta asked him while keeping an annoyingly calm tone of voice, almost as if he couldn't really care about the whole thing.

'What do you mean, why?' Masashi asked him, sounding, if possible, even more upset.

'Nitta-san,' Bunta said, looking at the shop's owner, 'I came here today to ask you something.'

'Hey!' Masashi protested, 'don't ignore my question!'

'Look,' Bunta started, using the same tone of voice a teacher used with a small kid, 'I've already told you: I've got to think about it, alright?'

'Bunta…' Yuuichi tried again.

'Alright?' Bunta repeated looking at his schoolmate.

'Fine,' Yuuichi finally conceded.

'What's fine?' Masashi asked, 'you can't…'

'That's enough,' Shinichiro interrupted him, 'Bunta, let's go to my office so we can talk about whatever you need to ask me,' he added then, looking at Masashi, he said, 'meanwhile, could you please start working on the 2000GT's tyres?'

'S-sure,' Masashi replied.

'Thanks,' Shinichiro said then, putting a hand onto Bunta's shoulders, he added, 'shall we go?'

'Okay,' Bunta replied.

With this, both Bunta and Shinichiro left Masashi and Yuuichi behind and made their way to the small office from which Shinichiro managed his repairs shop. There, once he was sitting behind his neatly organised desk, Shinichiro invited Bunta to take a seat on one of the two chairs which were placed right in front of it.

'So, what can I do for you?' Shinichiro asked.

'Do you remember you said I wasn't to pay for those tyres?' Bunta asked him.

'Sure,' Shinichiro replied, 'you're Junichi's son: I wouldn't make you pay for…'

'I've got a proposition for you,' Bunta interrupted him.

'Let's hear it,' Shinichiro said, putting his hands together, with his fingertips touching his upper lip and his elbows resting on the chair's armrests.

'I do have every intention of becoming a street racer,' Bunta said, 'and that means that I will need to get new sets of tyres and some parts for the car pretty frequently.'

'Uh-huh,' Shinichiro said nodding.

'Not to mention the fact that I will also need to learn a lot more about how to change the car's settings and the best way to tune the engine.'

'You could learn all of that from your uncle,' Shinichiro interrupted him.

'I know,' Bunta said, 'but I already owe him enough as it is and, for some reason, he's kind of reluctant to teach me all that much.'

'I can imagine why,' Shinichiro commented.

'You do?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes,' Shinichiro said sounding pretty sad all of a sudden, 'it probably has to do with the fact that he believes he made a huge mistake making things so easy for your father when they were growing up.'

'What does this have to do with anything?' Bunta asked him.

'A lot,' Shinichiro replied, 'he now thinks that, unless he makes you work hard for what you want, you'll end up being like your father was.'

'What do you mean by that?' Bunta asked him not really liking what he was hearing.

'Don't get me wrong,' Shinichiro started, 'like you already know, I was your father's best friend during high school but, that doesn't mean I couldn't see how badly spoilt he was: he took most things for granted, as if he had been born with the right to get everything effortlessly.'

'But…'

'That changed after he and Eikichi fought,' Shinichiro continued, 'I think that he realised how badly he had screwed things up for his older brother. It almost killed him knowing that your uncle didn't acknowledge him as his brother and that made him re-consider his whole life. He changed quite a lot in the two years he stayed with us, even more so when he started dating your mother.'

'There's one thing I don't get,' Bunta said.

'What is it?'

'Why didn't I know about you?' Bunta asked, 'after all, you were my father's best friend and…'

He stopped speaking after seeing a troubled frown appearing on the older man's face then, he observed as Shinichiro shook his head a couple of times before looking back at him and say:

'When your father left Shibukawa with your mother, they kind of promised to themselves that they would start a new life. I guess that in order to do that, they also decided to leave everything from their past behind.'

'And that included you?' Bunta asked almost disbelievingly.

'Yes,' Shinichiro replied.

'That's idiotic,' Bunta decided making the older man let out a short chuckle.

'Maybe,' Shinichiro said, 'but I understand why they did it. It's very hard to start a new life having so many painful memories which you can't forget. I guess that the only way he managed to lead a happy life was to turn the page so he could start with a clean slate.'

'I see,' Bunta muttered then, remembering why he was there, he said, 'anyway, I wanted to know if there's any way you could give me a part time job in here…'

Shinichiro looked taken aback for a few instants before he frowned again, this time looking as though as he was deep in thought then, nodding a couple of times, he said:

'Alright, I guess Suzuki-kun and the rest of the guys will be happy to have an extra pair of hands.'

'Great!' Bunta exclaimed happily.

'However,' Shinichiro said, 'you're still underage so you'll need to get your uncle's permission before you can start working for me.'

'No problems,' Bunta replied sounding a lot more confident than what he felt like for he didn't really know how his uncle would react to this.

'Alright,' Shinichiro said, 'consider that set of tyres a welcome present though. You can pay for whatever other parts you'll need with your salary, okay?'

'Sure,' Bunta said.

After shaking hands, he left the office leaving Shinichiro there as the older man started dealing with the shop's paperwork. Bunta then walked to the back of the shop where he saw Yuuichi admiring Masashi's work.

'You've already finished?' he asked them, seeing that his Toyota sported a brand new set of tyres.

'Of course,' Masashi replied while dusting his dark trousers.

Bunta flinched imperceptibly noticing that the slightly older guy still seemed to be rather upset with him.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'about that race, I'll seriously think about it.'

Masashi didn't even listen to him: he just offered a curt nod to Yuuichi before he turned round to go back to another car which had had its entire engine block removed. Then, even before his schoolmate could start yet another attempt at trying to convince him to race, Bunta said:

'Let's go and get your Mazda, we'll do some training tonight.'

'Bunta…'

'Come on,' Bunta insisted, 'now that I've got new tyres I'll be able to do a few of the things I've done in my dreams.'

'You're dreaming of driving on Akina?' Yuuichi asked incredulously.

'Yep,' Bunta replied with a grin, 'every damn night,' he added before climbing into his car, strapping himself onto the seat while he waited for Yuuichi to do the same.

'You really are unbelievable,' he commented and that only made Bunta smile even more.

A few hours later it was so dark that, except the brightness coming from the two sets of headlights, nothing else could be seen around the Mt Akina's pass. It would also have been fairly quiet had it not been for the roar of the two engines and the screeching sound of the Toyota's and the Mazda's tyres as their two drivers pushed their cars go to as fast as possible while they climbed up the road.

Soon enough, and since it was getting rather late, Yuuichi decided to park his car at the section of the road which had two rest areas running along each of its sides where, they noticed, they were starting to build the new TV aerial's station which would help increase the quality of the signal's reception for the whole area.

'What's up?' Bunta asked him as he climbed out of his 2000GT.

'Nothing,' Yuuichi replied while he did the same, 'it's just that it's getting a bit late and…'

'Ah, I see,' Bunta said with a disappointed expression on his face, 'you're already tired?'

'No,' Yuuichi hurried to reply, 'it's just that if I'm late for dinner my mother won't be happy.'

'Ah, I see,' Bunta repeated, this time sounding quite amused, 'you've got to run to mummy.'

'Hey!' Yuuichi protested, 'you've got no idea how scary my mother gets when she's pissed.'

'I can imagine,' Bunta commented, 'alright, let's go back home,' he finally agreed as he moved to climb back into his car.

'Er…'

'What now?' Bunta asked.

'Nothing,' Yuuichi said, 'it's just that I've seen you doing quite a few awesome looking drifts earlier on and I was wondering if you could do it again while I'm inside the car so I can see how you do it.'

'Alright,' Bunta replied, 'climb in.'

Yuuichi didn't need to be asked twice so, after locking his new Capella up, he ran to the Toyota and, as soon as he had his seatbelt safely fastened, Bunta turned his 2000GT's engine back on, making a three point turn manoeuvre so that he would be facing the road downhill.

'Are you ready?' Bunta asked Yuuichi.

'Yep,' he replied.

Nodding once, Bunta pressed the clutch to insert the first gear then, releasing it, he started applying some throttle and soon, he launched his car down the road as fast as he dared to take it, ignoring the faint gasp he'd heard coming out of a terrified looking Yuuichi.

Trying to repress a smirk, Bunta kicked the clutch, pushing it in then out a few times while the car entered the corner, moving then his other foot over the brake and accelerator pedals so that he could control the Toyota's speed.

Only when the car finished clearing the corner, he allowed himself to smile as he looked at Yuuichi, bracing himself for what the vehement protests which would surely be coming from his schoolmate.

'Oh crap,' Bunta whispered, braking as hard as he could so he could stop his Toyota, 'Yuuichi! Hey! Yuuichi, wake up!'

'Uh…' it was his very feeble sounding response.

'Are you alright?' Bunta asked him, trying to sound worried even though he wanted to burst out laughing.

'No,' Yuuichi replied, 'you're such a bastard!'

'Oi!' Bunta protested, 'it was you who wanted to see me do this.'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'but not going over one hundred kilometres an hour.'

'You're such a pussy,' Bunta complained.

'Hey!' Yuuichi exclaimed, finally looking as though as he was beginning to recover from the shock, 'don't call me pussy or I'll cancel the double date I've organised with Fuka-chan and Seiko-chan.'

'Who?' Bunta asked looking suddenly confused.

'My friends from the race, remember?'

'Those two babes?' Bunta asked back, 'you got us a date with them?'

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, 'they seemed to be quite eager when I told them you would be coming too.'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta said getting very serious, 'I take it all back: you really are a good friend!'

Poor Yuuichi stared at his schoolmate while trying to decide whether Bunta was being honest or if he was just being extra nice because of the date he'd managed to get for the two of them. Then, settling for the first option, he shook his head, looked at his wristwatch and said:

'I really need to go home now.'

'Alright then,' Bunta replied as he, once again, did a three point turn manoeuvre so he could drive the short distance which separated them from the spot where they had left the Mazda Capella parked.

'About that race…' Yuuichi started.

'Not again!' Bunta complained, 'honestly, I will think about it, okay?'

'But…'

'Do you want me to drive us down that cliff over there?' Bunta asked him pointing at the guardrail.

'No, no,' Yuuichi hurried to reply, suspecting that, if pushed too much, his new friend was crazy enough to actually deliver that threat.

'Stop pestering me then,' Bunta said.

A few moments later and with Yuuichi back inside the safety of his own ride, he followed the Toyota down the hill as the two cars made their way back to the town of Shibukawa where, at some point inside the city centre, they parted ways so that they could drive back to their respective homes.

'Hey, I'm home,' Bunta shouted as he stepped into his uncle's shop. Not getting any reply, he wondered if the old man was out when he heard someone coming into the shop and, turning sharply, he saw Eikichi's smiling face.

'Finally,' the older man said, 'I'm ravishing!'

'You scared me,' Bunta complained.

'Did I?' Eikichi asked, raising his greying eyebrows in such an amused way that it made Bunta shake his head in defeat, 'dinner's ready, come on in,' Eikichi added as he removed his shoes so he could enter the house's small living room.

'Eikichi,' Bunta started, while helping his uncle set the table for two, 'I got myself a new set of tyres and…'

'Great,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'now you'll be able to start practicing with the water cup.'

'Yes,' Bunta agreed, 'but I need to ask your permission to do something.'

'What is it?' Eikichi asked distractedly while he started serving their dinner into a couple of flat plates. Bunta observed his uncle for a couple of seconds before taking a deep breath to fuel the determination he needed to say:

'I know you said you didn't want me to go anywhere near Nitta-san's shop but…'

'That was before,' Eikichi interrupted him.

'Before what?' Bunta asked him sounding quite puzzled.

'Before you knew the full truth of what happened between your father and I,' Eikichi replied.

'Ah, I see,' Bunta said.

'Is that what you wanted to ask me?' Eikichi said putting down the two plates on the table and sitting down so he could start eating, 'you wanted to know if you were allowed to see Nitta?'

'Kind of,' Bunta replied, 'I'd like to work for him part time,' he finally admitted.

Eikichi looked up from his plate to the still standing Bunta then, nodding a couple of times, he said:

'I don't mind you having a part time job but, I don't know if you know that you don't really need one.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked.

'You've got quite a lot of money in a bank account from the sale of your parent's house and from a savings account they had,' Eikichi replied.

Bunta did a double take for he obviously wasn't aware of having so much money under his name then, it occurred to him that, since he was underage, he probably wasn't allowed to touch any of it and that made him say:

'But I can't use it, can I?'

'Not directly,' Eikichi replied, 'you need my signature to withdraw it but, if you need any money, you only need to let me know.'

'No,' Bunta replied, 'I prefer to keep it there, just in case.'

'Smart move,' Eikichi said with an approving nod, 'but something tells me that you don't want to work for Nitta only for the money, do you?'

'No,' Bunta replied, damning his uncle for being such a smartass, 'I also want to learn more about mechanics.'

'Alright,' Eikichi said.

'You're not offended that I didn't come to ask you first?' Bunta asked him.

'Nope,' Eikichi replied, 'I'm very proud to see that you prefer to do things independently. That's the only way to ensure you'll grow into the resourceful man you need to be in order to survive in this crazy world of ours.'

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'I'm going to need your signature for the contract then.'

'Count on it,' Eikichi said, 'now, sit down and eat, it's getting cold.'

They started eating while Bunta explained to his uncle about the list of things he'd already tried while driving up and down Mt Akina's pass while Eikichi contributed to the conversation by either nodding or using monosyllabic words.

After that, Bunta went back outside armed with a paper cup half full of water and a new cup holder to install onto the 2000GT's dashboard. Once that was done, he placed the paper cup into it and, with Eikichi looking at him, Bunta climbed into the car, turned its engine on and drove away from the shop.

Eikichi had just stepped back onto the area he used to make the tofu when he heard the house's phone ringing.

'What the…' he said as he hurried to pick the receiver up, 'Fujiwara Tofu Shop.'

'Eikichi-san,' a very familiar voice said, one he hadn't heard in over twenty years, 'I'm Nitta Shinichiro I…'

'What a surprise,' Eikichi commented sounding everything but surprised.

'I hope I'm not bothering you,' Shinichiro said, 'I just wanted to tell you about…'

'About the fact that my nephew is going to work for you at your shop? Eikichi asked him.

'Yeah,' Shinichiro replied, 'so, you know.'

'Of course I do,' Eikichi replied, 'Bunta just told me.'

'I would understand if…'

'He can start whenever you want,' Eikichi interrupted him once again.

'Ah, I see,' Shinichiro said, 'listen, I needed to tell you something else.'

'What is it?' Eikichi asked him with a smirk because, if he wanted to be honest, he was getting a kick out of making Shinichiro feel uneasy.

'Suzuki-kun, one of the guys who work for me, is pretty upset because Bunta doesn't want to race against a pair of Mitsubishi.'

'They've challenged him, haven't they?' Eikichi asked, masking his interest with indifference.

'Yes,' Shinichiro replied, 'but your nephew doesn't seem to be very keen on accepting the challenge.'

'I see,' Eikichi said, 'leave it up to me. I'll help him make his mind up.'

'You don't mind that he races?' Shinichiro asked him sounding fairly surprised.

'Nope,' Eikichi replied, 'I wouldn't admit it in front of the brat but, I think he's got what it takes to become a really good racer.'

'That's quite the statement coming from you,' Shinichiro said before he could stop himself.

'Yeah well,' Eikichi chuckled, 'I've got work to do now, so bye-bye.'

With that, he hanged up the receiver and went to start preparing that night's deliveries while he waited for his nephew to get home which he did only a few hours later when Eikichi was already putting some of the tofu inside the wooden boxes.

'How did it go?' he asked to the teenager.

'Not bad,' Bunta replied, 'I'm beginning to understand how to distribute the weight of the car so that the water doesn't spill.'

'Good,' Eikichi said, 'listen, I've spoken to Nitta about that job of yours and, while we were at it, he told me about that race against the Mitsubishi we found the other night.'

'Oh god…' Bunta complained.

'What is it?' Eikichi asked as casually as he could, 'are you afraid you can't beat them?'

'What?' Bunta exclaimed, 'of course I could beat them!' he added angrily.

'Then go and race them,' Eikichi said with such a calm tone of voice that it made Bunta even angrier, 'if you don't, we'll all think you're scared.'

'I AM NOT SCARED!' Bunta shouted.

'Prove it,' Eikichi challenged him and, for only one second, the older man saw the inner conflict in Bunta's face which was soon replaced by a determined look.

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'I'll prove to you that I'm not scared by beating the pants off those two bastards.'

Eikichi then watched as the teenager stomped towards the house's living room, literally kicking his shoes off as he did so. Shaking his head and with a smile on his face, he got his attention back to the tofu.

_To be continued…_


	10. Chapter Nine

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Nine_

The very next day, a very determined Bunta showed up at the repairs shop where Masashi Suzuki worked to find the guy under a Subaru which looked so old that Bunta couldn't help but to think that the owner, instead of getting it fixed, should have allowed the poor thing to have a merciful end.

In any case, Bunta cleared his throat rather loudly and, without waiting for Masashi to come out from under the car, he asked:

'Can you organise that race with the Mitsubishis?'

A painful sounding thud and a few colourful swear words followed his question and, only after that, Masashi emerged from under the car and as he rubbed his forehead, smudging it with grease in the process, he said:

'So, you've finally made up your mind.'

'Yep,' Bunta replied while trying to suppress a chuckle.

'I guess I could spread the word around,' Masashi said then, he added, 'where do you want to race?'

'Akina,' Bunta replied, 'where else?'

'Of course,' Masashi said, 'and I take you'll be racing downhill.'

'Actually,' Bunta started, 'I was thinking of both.'

'Both? What do you mean by both?' Masashi asked him looking puzzled then, remembering that the younger guy had spoken in plural, he exclaimed, 'you're not planning on racing the two of them, are you?'

'That's exactly what I want to do,' Bunta replied calmly.

'Are you crazy?' Masashi asked in what sounded more a rhetoric question than anything else.

'No,' Bunta replied nonetheless, 'I've had an idea and I'd like to ask you if it's something which can be done.'

'Bunta,' Masashi said, 'this is street racing we're talking about: anything can be done.'

'Ah, that's right,' Bunta said slapping his forehead with his hand, 'sorry…I kind of forgot.'

Masashi chuckled as he shook his head in disbelief: this guy was really too much.

'So,' Bunta said interrupting his train of thought, 'I'll leave everything in your hands.'

'Wait. Have you thought of our offer?' Masashi asked, trying not to sound nor look too hopeful.

'What offer?' Bunta asked.

'The one Shinobu-san made you,' Masashi replied unable to believe the fact that Bunta genuinely seemed to have forgotten something as important as that, 'asking you to join our team,' he explained, just in case.

'Ah, that,' Bunta said then, shaking his head a couple of times, he added, 'I'm not sure I'll join any teams at the moment. I'm still not…'

'That's bullshit and you know it,' Masashi interrupted him with an angry frown appearing on his forehead, 'if I have to hear that you don't think you're good enough to be part of our team, I'll smack your head with one of my spanners.'

'Alright,' Bunta said taking one step backwards, 'er…well, I've got to go now or I'll be late for school.'

With that, and before Masashi could get anywhere near his working tools, Bunta started running out of the shop and towards the school where he found Yuuichi talking to a couple of girls who seemed to be laughing at something he'd just said.

'Morning,' Bunta said offering his best smile to the two girls who, instead of looking impressed, they seemed to be pretty freaked out.

'We'll see you later,' one of them said to Yuuichi.

'Okay,' Yuuichi replied then, both girls left walking a bit more briskly that it really was necessary while Bunta stared at them not understanding anything.

'Am I that scary?' he asked Yuuichi as they made their way to their classroom.

'Er…' Yuuichi started, almost as though as he was buying himself time to find an appropriate answer, 'no, I wouldn't say that,' he finally said.

'Then, what happened just there?' Bunta asked him.

'I don't know,' Yuuichi replied, 'maybe it's because you're an unknown face.'

Bunta looked at his friend before deciding to settle for that very unlikely, yet comforting theory. Girls were weird, he thought to himself as he sat down at his desk, immediately next to that of Yuuichi, pulling out of his bag all the material he needed to pretend he was paying attention to the lesson.

A few hours later, and while everyone was enjoying their lunch break, Bunta sat onto Yuuichi's desk and said:

'I'm going to race those Mitsubishi.'

Yuuichi, who had been munching away the bento his mother had carefully prepared for him, hearing that statement made him choke with a bit of onigiri and that led to a terrible fit of coughing.

'Hey, don't die on me,' Bunta said as he patted his friend's back.

'Fucking bastard,' Yuuichi muttered using one of the first gulps of air he managed to take.

'I thought you'd be happy to know,' Bunta complained.

'I am,' Yuuichi said as he avidly drank from his bottle of water, 'is just that, coming here and announcing it all of a sudden.'

'I only decided it last night,' Bunta said choosing to leave out that not so subtle way in which his uncle had implied he didn't have the courage to race the two cars from Akagi.

'That's great,' Yuuichi replied as he slowly got back to his normal colour of skin, 'but, you said Mitsubishi, you're not going to race the two of them, are you?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'Masashi-san said that there's nothing which prevents me from doing that.'

'What about, I don't know, common sense?' Yuuichi asked him sarcastically.

'Common sense doesn't have anything to do with street racing, does it?' Bunta asked using what Yuuichi had come to call, his very peculiar line of reasoning.

'Not really,' Yuuichi admitted.

'I thought so,' Bunta said then, considering the topic as closed, he asked, 'can I eat one of those?'

Just like Masashi had predicted, getting in touch with the Mitsubishi drivers was reasonably easy and, very soon, they fixed the race for the following Saturday evening, which meant that Bunta had a week to train himself for what was going to be his first official battle during the time he wasn't at school or working at the repairs shop.

The evening of the race arrived pretty soon and just as he climbed into his Toyota so he could follow Yuuichi in his Capella, Bunta saw the first few raindrops falling onto his car's windscreen.

'Oh well,' he thought shrugging his shoulders.

Fifteen minutes later, they parked their rides next to the dark red Fairlady Z having seen that, despite the rain, there were quite a lot of spectators standing behind the guardrails.

'Are you nervous?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Nope,' Bunta replied sounding indeed eerily calm.

'Of course not,' Yuuichi said.

Bunta didn't even acknowledge that for he saw the two Mitsubishi parked just across the road and the two drivers chatting with a few of his friends. Without waiting for any of the members of the Akina Firebolts and ignoring the drops of rain which were beginning to fall quite insistently, Bunta walked towards them.

'I smell trouble,' Masashi said to his team leader Shinobu Aihara.

'Me and you both,' Shinobu replied before he started following Bunta, leaving Masashi and Yuuichi no option but to follow him too.

'You're nuts,' the three men heard one of the Mitsubishi drivers say.

'Why?' Bunta asked them.

'What's going on?' Shinobu asked to no one in particular.

'You said that everything was allowed,' Bunta said to Masashi.

'I did,' Masashi replied.

'Well,' Bunta started, 'since we can't race all three of us at the same time, I was suggesting to, first race him downhill,' he explained pointing at one of the Mitsubishi drivers, 'and then, if I win the first heat, I'll race him uphill,' he added pointing at the other driver.

'You're nuts!' Masashi exclaimed.

'That's what I said,' the Mitsubishi driver said, looking happy that someone was backing his theory.

'I don't think it's such a bad idea,' Shinobu said making everyone gasp.

'Shinobu-san…' Masashi started.

'Let him do what he says,' Shinobu insisted, 'I think it'll be fun,' he added winking and smiling at Bunta then, before anyone else could express their disagreement, he walked back to where the rest of his team were.

'Alright, have it your way,' one of the Mitsubishi drivers said glaring at an impassive looking Bunta, 'but you'll regret having underestimated us…'

Then, he and his friend made their way back to their cars, two identical black Colt Galant GTOs with their characteristic quad-headlamps and a design which made them look like some of the American Muscle cars Bunta had only seen on the cover of some magazines.

Even though he knew that the GTO's engine wasn't as powerful as his 2000GT's one, Bunta wasn't going to take neither of the two races too lightly, even more so considering that the first race was going to be going downhill where the power of the car didn't matter as much as the skills of its driver.

For this reason, and as he made his way back to his Toyota, Bunta started making up the strategy he would use for the first heat.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said, 'I know you've practiced a lot but…'

'I know,' Bunta interrupted him, 'don't worry, I'll be fine.'

Offering a reassuring grin to his friend, Bunta climbed into his car and fastened his seatbelt before turning the key on the ignition so he could turn the wipers on. The rain was beginning to become a downpour, he thought allowing himself a moment to feel worried about that.

Shaking his head to remove any traces of concern, he finished turning the key so he could start his Toyota's engine, enjoying as he always did, the vibration that made the car tremble slightly.

He loved that sensation, Bunta thought while smiling to himself.

As he rolled his car out of his parking spot, he saw one of the GTO's driving down the hill and towards the base where its driver would wait for the end of the first heat. Meanwhile, the other GTO driver stopped at the beginning of the short straight which was traditionally used as the starting point of every downhill race in Mt Akina.

Neither Bunta nor the GTO driver got out of their cars since it was now raining pretty heavily and they just waited for Shinobu to finish checking with the members of his team that they were okay to start the race then, Bunta saw as the Akina Firebolts' leader positioned himself right in front of the two cars.

As he entered the first gear, Bunta took a deep breath while he observed Shinobu raising his arm, getting ready to start the countdown then, right at the instant Shinobu lowered it, Bunta pressed the throttle while releasing the clutch taking off so fast that he didn't even see the Firebolts' leader as he dashed past him.

Not caring about the whereabouts of the GTO, Bunta just made it to the first corner at such high speed that he couldn't help but to feel grateful he didn't have the cup full of water for it would have probably spilt all its contents all over the place.

Just as he was clearing the seventh turn, he realised that the Mitsubishi was right behind him.

About bloody time, Bunta thought to himself while he pressed the accelerator even further down. Thankfully, unlike during that first unofficial race against Masashi and despite the rain which kept falling incessantly, the grip of his car's tyres was nearly perfect.

He hadn't even finished that thought when something weird happened: all of a sudden the 2000GT's tyres seemed to lose all traction. It took Bunta less than half a second to realise what was wrong.

Aquaplaning.

'Shit,' Bunta whispered as he started applying the clutch so he could enter the first gear as he fought to get the car back onto the right line all the while trying to stay away from the incoming GTO, the driver of which, probably taken by surprise, didn't even think of overtaking at first.

Sadly, it didn't take him long to react and, before Bunta could do anything to stop it, he was forced to watch as the GTO drove past his Toyota.

'Shit!' Bunta exclaimed angrily as he punched his car's steering wheel then, realising that it wasn't its fault, he added, 'sorry.'

With the damage already done and having no other option but to be the chaser for a while, Bunta started pushing his car to its limits, using every single trick he'd learned in the few weeks he'd been driving down this road.

Including what he'd come to call the gutter run.

Only that allowed for Bunta to keep up with the GTO and, as they approached the five consecutive hairpins, he started planning the first of his attacks:

He kept the front of his Toyota glued to the back of the Mitsubishi for the first of the extremely tight corners and only as they were about to exit it, he lowered his tyres onto the gutter.

'Let's see if this works too,' he muttered to himself as he used the extra grip this technique offered to propel himself forward and, as he saw the GTO driving out of the hairpin, veering slightly towards the middle of the road, Bunta pushed his car into the small gap the Mitsubishi had left open.

Flooring the accelerator, the teenager got his car level with the GTO and, in what probably was the craziest overtaking manoeuvre in the history of the Mt Akina's past races, Bunta managed to get his car right ahead to the entrance of the following hairpin.

He cleared that one too as well as the other three using in all of them the gutter run in its exit version.

Everyone was surprised to see the Toyota get to the finish line first, even more so because they had to wait for a good fifteen seconds before they saw the Mitsubishi crossing the line. Bunta allowed himself a chuckle as he saw the face of the other GTO's driver: it was the perfect picture of astonishment.

'What happened?' Bunta heard him ask to his friend.

'He's as crazy as that old man we saw him with,' he replied, 'you better be careful.'

'Hey,' Bunta said climbing out of his car, 'I haven't got all night, you know?'

The two GTO drivers stared at him in disbelief then, the one who'd just been beaten by Bunta went to start walking towards him with very obvious intentions of beating the crap out of the teenager.

'Forget it,' his friend said putting a hand onto his shoulder, 'I'll make him pay for his presumption.'

Bunta smirked as he got back into his car for he had just managed to get exactly what he wanted: an even more determined opponent.

Repeating the same pattern again, this time with some guy who Bunta assumed was also a member of the Akina Firebolts, he waited for the 'go' as he prepared himself to go back up to the summit only that, for this race, he wanted to adopt an entirely different strategy:

Allowing the GTO to get ahead of him at the start, Bunta decided to wait until after the hairpins to start any attacks, not because he wanted to do the Mitsubishi driver a favour, but because he was curious to see if all the training he'd done with the water cup had produced any results.

For this reason, in the following few corners Bunta tried several kind of drifting techniques while keeping an eye on the Mitsubishi, making sure that the gap between the two of them didn't increase too much. Then, at the very last corner before the five hairpins, Bunta noticed something odd about the GTO.

It wasn't drifting.

It struck to him that the Mitsubishi's driver hadn't drifted at all in the whole distance they had covered and that made Bunta very curious to see the difference it made to negotiate the corners by using the same line the GTO was following.

He tried it in the first hairpin, entering it and exiting it driving over the marks the GTO's tyres were leaving and it was with immense pleasure that Bunta realised that, despite not being as exciting as drifting, driving by grip was a lot faster.

At the end of the fifth hairpin, the front of the 2000GT was glued to the rear bumper of the Mitsubishi and that made Bunta decide to anticipate his attack just a bit.

He waited until they finished clearing the corner which came immediately after the five consecutive hairpins to veer sharply towards the outside of the turn, flooring the accelerator pedal and making the 2000GT's engine to give him all it had.

Cruising at over one hundred and fifty kilometres an hour, he left the poor GTO behind as he entered the following corner, this time allowing himself a drift.

This made Bunta feel surprisingly bad: he'd used his car's higher speed instead of his own driving skills and, for some strange reason, he didn't like that because, even if he ended up winning the race, he didn't think it would feel like a proper victory.

He was still pondering this when he saw, a bit further ahead of him, that enormous puddle which had almost cost him his first battle. Smirking at the puddle and almost as if it could listen to him, Bunta said:

'You're not getting me twice.'

With that, he lifted his foot off the accelerator at the same time as he veered towards the outer section of the road where the puddle seemed to be a lot shallower. Behind him, the GTO's driver watched the whole manoeuvre thinking that he'd just won the lottery.

Bunta just about saw the moment when the GTO literally flew past him.

'What the…' the teenager said as he flinched involuntarily.

The whole thing didn't last for more than a few milliseconds but to Bunta, and probably even more so to the Mitsubishi's driver, it seemed like an eternity when they both saw, in slow motion, as the GTO's tyres lost all their traction, sending the poor car crashing against a nearby wall.

'Ouch,' Bunta winced as he pressed the brake pedal of his Toyota so it would come to a complete stop then, turning round inside his car, he tried to see if the GTO's driver was alright but since it was rather dark and it was raining, he couldn't see anything.

Bunta already had his hand on the door's handle to climb out so he could go and help his rival when, all of a sudden, he heard the GTO's engine coming back on then, glancing at the rear view mirror, he saw that the Mitsubishi was actually moving away from the wall and, with a smashed up headlight and all, its driver still seemed to want to carry on racing.

'Fair enough,' Bunta muttered as he, too, entered the first gear to continue with the race.

It was a really unfair battle, Bunta thought bitterly as he crossed the finish line in first position for the second time that evening. Not only his car's engine was a lot more powerful but also, after the crash, the GTO wasn't performing as well as it should have.

'You've won!' Yuuichi exclaimed as he tried to hug Bunta.

'Yeah well,' Bunta said as he tried to dodge his friend as well as quite a few of the Firebolts which wanted to join in the celebrations, 'hang on a sec,' the teenager added, speaking to no one in particular.

He then walked away from the group of cheering people to go towards the GTO, the driver of which was already inspecting the damage he'd done to his poor car.

'Hey, are you alright?' Bunta asked him.

'Why do you care?' the guy asked angrily, getting up from his crouching position so he could be eye-level with Bunta.

'I don't really,' Bunta replied honestly.

'Then what the fuck do you want?' the guy exclaimed, looking livid with fury.

'A name and another race,' Bunta replied.

'What?' the guy said, now his voice just over a whisper.

'You heard me,' Bunta insisted.

The guy looked at him for a while almost as though as he was trying to decide whether to answer to the question or to beat the crap out of the teenager then, settling for the first option, he said:

'Watanabe Makoto.'

'I'm Fujiwara Bunta. I understand that your home course is in Mt Akagi.'

'That's correct,' Makoto said still eyeing him suspiciously.

'Fine, let's race there,' Bunta said, 'I'm free whenever you want except this coming Friday.'

'Why not Friday?' Makoto asked.

'Can you see those two babes there?' Bunta asked while pointing with his head to where Fuka and Seiko were, standing under a bright yellow umbrella.

'Yes,' Makoto replied.

'I've got a date with them,' Bunta replied and, before Makoto could say anything, the teenager walked away from him leaving the poor GTO driver bowing his head in defeat.

_To be continued…_


	11. Chapter Ten

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Ten_

A fully dressed Bunta was lying on his bed, thinking of what had happened immediately after the race as he stared at the ceiling while the room started filling itself with light as the sun rose for a brand new day. Even though he didn't think he deserved any of it, he had liked hearing everyone's cheers as they congratulated him and while they praised his extraordinary driving skills.

Ha! Extraordinary driving skills, my foot, Bunta thought remembering all the mistakes he'd made during the race. He'd even aquaplaned! Gosh, if Eikichi ever found out about that, he'd never hear the end of it!

'I've got to keep on practicing,' Bunta muttered to himself and, with that, he got back up thinking that he had to hurry up before the roads would dry up from all the rain which had kept on falling throughout the night, he just grabbed his Toyota's keys and started running down the stairs.

'Hey there,' Eikichi said seeing his nephew walking past the living room where he was reading the previous day's newspaper, 'you're late: I just came back from doing the deliveries.'

'I know, sorry,' Bunta replied quickly, 'I'll come tomorrow, I promise.'

'Hey Bunta,' Eikichi said and, this time, his tone of voice made Bunta stop right before he could sit down to put his shoes on.

'What's up?' Bunta asked without turning round to face him.

'Come here one second,' Eikichi replied and, very slowly, Bunta made his way into the living room.

'Yes?' Bunta asked, leaning against the door frame.

'I've heard you won last night,' Eikichi replied, 'well done.'

'Er…' Bunta started, wondering two things: how on earth had he found out about the race to begin with and, more importantly, was he taking the piss with that 'well done' of his?

'If you're asking yourself how come I know about the race, I have my own sources of information,' Eikichi said, replying to Bunta's unasked question, yet again freaking the poor teenager out for he really didn't know how his uncle kept doing that.

'Er…' Bunta repeated.

'Like I said,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I'm pleased to know that you've done well enough to win this race but, there's something I'd like you to keep in mind.'

'And that is?' Bunta finally managed to ask.

'Go again through everything you've done during the race and try to identify the mistakes you've made then, try to see if you could do something to prevent them from happening in the future.'

'I was going to do that right now,' Bunta said shaking his car keys and that, for some reason, made Eikichi smile happily.

'I'm very impressed,' he said and, this time, Bunta noticed that his uncle was being one hundred percent sincere, 'keep in mind something else, will you?'

'Alright…'

'The day you will stop finding mistakes in your driving, do everyone a favour and quit racing,' Eikichi said.

'What? Why?' Bunta asked raising his eyebrows in surprise.

'Because,' Eikichi replied, 'the day you get so arrogant as to think you're perfect, you'll become a danger to yourself and to whoever happens to be racing with you.'

Bunta simply didn't know what to say, except that, as usual, his uncle seemed to know what he was talking about and, again as always, he made perfect sense.

'Alright,' he repeated, 'I'll keep both things in mind.'

'Good,' Eikichi replied, 'now you better be off,' he added then, glancing at the clock which hung from a nearby wall, he said, 'you only have about an hour before the road will start filling itself with cars, use it well.'

'I will,' Bunta said and, with that, Eikichi re-started reading his one day old newspaper as the teenager went to put his shoes on while thinking about everything his uncle had told him.

It was a real pity that his uncle and his father had never made peace, Bunta thought while climbing into his car and turning its engine on, he could only begin to imagine how freaking good his driving would be if, on top of the advice he got from his father when he was teaching him how to drive, he'd also got that of his uncle…

'Oh well,' Bunta muttered to himself, no point wondering about something impossible, besides, his uncle was right: if he wanted to get better, he had to do all the work himself.

With a pang, he realised that it had been the first time in quite a few days that he'd thought about his father and that made him think that he wasn't missing him anywhere near as much as he thought he would. Was it because of Eikichi?

He also asked to himself if it was normal that he'd moved on with his life so quickly then, not finding a good answer to any of those two questions, he decided to think about this later on for, right now, he had a mountain pass to attack.

A few hours later and only when he was happy with the work he'd done up in Mt Akina, Bunta drove his Toyota to Nitta-san's repair shop where he'd been working for just under ten days and, as he parked his car, he saw that Masashi was there too.

'Hello champ,' the older guy greeted him shaking a wrench he had in his hand.

'Hi,' Bunta replied while he climbed out of his 2000GT, 'what are you doing here? Isn't Sunday your day off?'

'Yep,' Masashi said, 'but shouldn't I say the same thing about you? I thought you only worked here during the weekdays…'

'I know,' Bunta replied, 'I was…hey, I asked you first,' he protested.

'Ah,' Masashi chuckled, 'we've just finished working on an engine and we needed to reassemble it into the car because its owner wants to pick it up tomorrow morning.'

'I see…'

'Hey,' Masashi added, 'do you want to give us a hand?'

'Sure,' Bunta replied nodding. He then followed Masashi inside the garage where they found a short guy in his late thirties called Taki who'd been working at the repairs shop since forever and who was now preparing everything they needed to put the engine back into the empty bay of a beautiful, shiny blue Subaru Leone, the bonnet cover of which was currently leaning against one of the walls.

'Hi there,' Taki said, 'coming to help us out?'

'I'll try,' Bunta replied with a grin.

'Alright,' Taki said, 'while you do, we can explain to you what we've done with the engine and why, if that's okay with you.'

'Of course,' Bunta replied, 'I'm all ears…'

Soon enough, all three of them were busy with the numerous wires, tubes and all the countless other parts which were needed to make sure an engine worked properly. Bunta was having so much fun that he simply didn't see himself doing anything else but messing around with cars for the rest of his life…

'Hello there,' they heard Shinichiro Nitta say from the garage's entrance while they were busy cleaning all the tools they've used.

'Hi,' Bunta said to him.

'How is it going?' Shinichiro asked, this time looking at the sempai Taki.

'Remarkably well,' the guy replied, 'the kid seems to be a natural when it comes to mechanics.'

That made Shinichiro smile at Bunta in an almost fatherly way and then, glancing back at Taki, he nodded once and said:

'He's a Fujiwara: he's bound to be good with cars…'

This last remark made Bunta feel so embarrassed that he failed to notice the very astounded look which had appeared on both Masashi's and Taki's faces.

'You've got him in your pocket,' Masashi commented to Bunta as they started making their way back to their cars.

'Who?' Bunta asked looking confused.

'The boss,' Masashi replied, 'he never pays compliments so easily. It's probably because he was your father's best…'

'Hey,' Bunta exclaimed, frowning angrily, 'is that what you all think?'

'What?'

'You all think I got this job because of who my father was, don't you?' Bunta asked him, now sounding definitely upset.

'N-no…' Masashi started.

'Bullshit,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I know you do. But that's precisely why I want to learn as much as I can and as fast as possible.'

'Bunta I…'

'I've had it with depending on other people,' Bunta said, 'I want to learn as much as I can about cars so I can start doing things my own way.'

'Bunta,' Masashi tried again, 'you are already surprisingly good,' he added, 'honestly, I haven't met anyone who could do what you do…'

'And what is that?' Bunta asked, forcing himself to calm down.

'We just tell you something once and you apply it immediately,' Masashi explained, 'you sometimes manage to even improve what we've done, it's rather scary, you know?'

'What did I do?' Bunta asked sounding genuinely confused.

'Earlier on,' Masashi replied, 'when we were working with that engine and we were telling you about the way it was supposed to be wired, you suggested us a different way of doing it which turned out to be a lot better than what we had in mind.'

'But...'

'It's scary to think that you're probably doing it out of sheer instinct instead of knowledge,' Masashi said.

'I don't know, I just…'

'You just don't know how to explain why you do what you do,' Masashi finished for him.

'Yeah,' Bunta admitted scratching his cheek like he always did every time he was nervous or embarrassed about something.

'I think you're a freaking genius,' Masashi concluded before he started climbing into his car, 'and I'm grateful to know that you're in my side. I'd hate to think of what would happen if you were one of our rivals.'

Bunta just nodded to that as he too got into his Toyota because, once again, he didn't really know what to say. A genius, Masashi had said; what an exaggeration, the teenager thought while he turned the engine on so they could drive up Mt Akina where Yuuichi and a few of the Akina Firebolts were waiting for them.

Fifteen minutes later, Bunta parked his car next to his schoolmate's Capella noticing that its driver was busy chatting with the Firebolts' leader.

'Hey,' Shinobu said seeing both Masashi and Bunta climbing out of their cars, 'about bloody time you showed up,' he then added looking at Bunta.

'Why?' Bunta asked him.

'Why, he asks,' another guy, Shinobu's best friend, said sarcastically, 'care to tell him?'

'Yep,' Shinobu replied with a smirk, 'Bunta, after the stunt you pulled last night, there are quite a few people who'd do anything to race you…'

'Really?' Bunta asked with such an incredulous tone of voice that it earned him a smack on the back of his head, courtesy of Yuuichi.

'Of course, you idiot!' Yuuichi said, 'did you know that those two Mitsubishi drivers are quite famous?'

'No, I didn't,' Bunta replied, 'but I've already told that Watanabe guy that I want to race them again, this time in their home course.'

'In Mt Akagi?' Shinobu asked him with a frown.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'why, is that a problem?'

'Not really,' Masashi replied, 'except that you've never even been there.'

'Not a problem,' Bunta said dismissingly, 'I'll go there a few days before the race so I can get some practice.'

'Bunta,' Shinobu said, 'Akagi's configuration has very little to do with Akina's. It'll take you more than a few days to get used to it. Believe me, I've been there quite a few times and I still get pretty freaked out of how steep its downhill is.'

'Really?' Bunta repeated, this time sounding very much interested, provoking a fit of laughter from everyone.

'You're too much,' Masashi sentenced then, looking at his team leader, he said, 'Shinobu-san, I think we'd better let him do whatever he wants.'

'Yeah,' Shinobu agreed, 'it's not like we can do anything to stop him. After all, he's not even one of us yet.'

'Speaking of which...' Shinobu's best friend said.

'Shall we get some practice?' Bunta asked, interrupting the older guy and, before he even got a reply, he started walking back to his 2000GT.

'Yuuichi…' Masashi started as they all observed Bunta while he climbed into his car.

'No, no,' Yuuichi said putting both of his hands up, 'don't even look at me. From the little I know of him, the more you guys insist, the less he's going to be willing to join.'

'What an arrogant bastard,' one of the Firebolts said.

'It's not that,' Shinobu contradicted him, 'I think it's more a question of being stubborn.'

He clearly wanted to add something else but then, seeing that Bunta was already driving downhill, he shook his head and started making his way to his own car leaving everyone with no option but to follow him suit.

The day after, and as they had finished what had to be the most boring maths lesson ever, Bunta sat on top of Yuuichi's desk and was about to say something when Yuuichi looked at him and said:

'You really should tell them about our plans.'

'What?' Bunta asked him.

'You know what I mean,' Yuuichi replied getting even more serious, 'last night, with the guys, you really put me in a very uncomfortable position.'

'Why?'

'Because I don't know if you want to tell them about our plans to race in every course on our own, without being a member of any of the teams…'

'Ah, that,' Bunta said.

'Yes, that,' Yuuichi confirmed, 'listen, is not that I don't feel grateful that you've included me in those plans but, Masashi-san and the rest of the guys know that I've been dying to become a member of their team for quite a long time and they're getting a bit more than suspicious that I don't want to put press you into making your mind up.'

Bunta looked at him and laughed softly.

'They know you too well,' he added.

'It's not funny,' Yuuichi complained, 'I think we should tell them.'

'Soon,' Bunta promised him, 'for now, we've got other things to worry about.'

'Other things?' Yuuichi asked, looking rather puzzled.

'Yes, like our date, for instance,' he replied and that caused for quite a few of their classmates, especially the male ones, to stare at the two boys with a fairly disgusted expression on their faces, 'with Fuka-chan and Seiko-chan, remember?' Bunta added speaking loud enough so everyone could hear him. That, funnily enough, made all of their classmates to let out a sigh of relief at the very same time.

'I've got everything planned,' Yuuichi said.

'Really?' Bunta asked, 'because I kind of had an idea…'

'You've had an idea?' Yuuichi asked not bothering to hide how scared he was at the prospect.

'Yep,' Bunta replied nonetheless, 'what do you say if we take the girls to Tokyo?'

'What?' Yuuichi exclaimed, 'are you nuts?' he then asked then, knowing the answer to that question all too well, he added, 'Bunta, that's going to cost us a fortune.'

'Why?' Bunta asked him.

'Come on,' Yuuichi said, 'think of how much petrol we'll have to use to get to Tokyo, not to mention the fact that the girls will expect us to pay for whatever we do, be it dinner or a drink or going to see a movie.'

'Who said anything about that?' Bunta asked.

'What do you want to do then?' Yuuichi asked, 'because we can't take them to Tokyo and not take them out for dinner or something like that. And be sure that they'll want to go to Shibuya where everything is horribly expensive.'

'Again,' Bunta said, 'who said anything about going to Shibuya?'

'Alright,' Yuuichi conceded sounding rather exasperated, 'what exactly are you plans?'

'Do you remember what I told you about the race I won just before I moved here?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, 'what about it?'

'I've been thinking of going back to Tokyo so I could try and find those two guys,' Bunta replied.

'But,' Yuuichi started, 'weren't you going to wait until you got a lot better?'

'I was,' Bunta agreed, 'however, I've been thinking that it's already been over a month and I'm afraid that if I let any more time go by, they won't remember me.'

'Yeah, right,' Yuuichi said with a tone of voice which indicated how unlikely he thought that would be.

'In any case,' Bunta continued, 'I kind of want to see Tokyo again.'

'Hey,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'I don't think it's such a bad plan, if we went on our own that is,' he added.

'Why is that?' Bunta asked him.

'Because I don't know if the girls will like that, I mean, going all the way to Tokyo not to go and see Shibuya and all the other cool places…'

'But they like street racing, don't they?' Bunta asked.

'No,' Yuuichi replied shaking his head, 'they like street racers.'

'Ah,' Bunta gasped then, he grinned and said, 'well, from what I remember, there were quite a few of them there...'

'That's not good,' Yuuichi said, 'I thought you wanted us to score with them,' he added with a frown on his face.

'Of course I do,' Bunta replied, 'but think about this: who are they going to be getting there with?'

'Us,' Yuuichi replied.'

'That's right,' Bunta said widening his grin, 'and who do they have to go back to Shibukawa with?'

'Us,' Yuuichi replied.

'There you go,' Bunta said then, seeing that the History teacher had already entered the classroom, meaning that their ten minute break was over, he got off Yuuichi's desk and rushed to his as fast as he could.

On Friday evening and as they had agreed with the two girls, Bunta and Yuuichi drove both of their cars to Seiko-chan's house where she and Fuka-chan would be waiting for them.

'Crap,' Bunta said while they walked to the house's front door, 'I didn't know we had to meet the parents…'

'We don't,' Yuuichi said, 'we've got to say a quick hi to them.'

'Okay,' Bunta conceded, 'but no more than a couple of minutes, alright?'

'Don't worry, we won't be as long as that,' Yuuichi assured him as he knocked onto the door then, after an instant, they heard as someone opened the door: a small girl who didn't even look a day older than fifteen.

'Who are you?' she asked with a frown on her face, which only deepened seeing Bunta who was standing just by Yuuichi's side, 'what do you want?' she asked too.

'Er…' Yuuichi hesitated, 'we're here to…'

He didn't even finish the sentence for the girl, looking like she had figured it out, interrupted him by saying:

'I'll go and tell them you're here.'

After that, she turned round so quickly that she sent both of her thick and long plaits flying then, she walked back into the house leaving both boys standing outside. Despite that, Bunta and Yuuichi clearly heard as she shouted:

'Seiko, the two losers you were waiting for are here!'

Bunta and Yuuichi stared at each other unable to believe what they had just heard and were still trying to decide whether to start laughing or not when Seiko and her friend Fuka finally showed up.

'Hi,' Seiko said looking very embarrassed, 'sorry about my little sister, she's a bit…'

'She's a living nightmare,' Fuka interrupted her, 'she even uses your first name instead of the honorific, if I did that with my older brother he would get very pissed off.'

'It's alright,' Bunta finally said, 'let's just go, okay?'

'Alright,' Seiko said and, without even asking where they were going, Fuka just made her way to Yuuichi's car making it very obvious to Bunta who his companion for this trip was going to be.

Not that he minded though, Seiko was looking better than ever with a very short light brown sleeveless dress which had a very wide dark brown leather belt hanging off her hips, a couple of high heeled dark brown boots completed the whole thing making the girl look incredibly sexy.

This was definitely going to be a night to remember, he thought as he climbed behind the steering wheel of his 2000GT.

_To be continued…_


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Eleven_

The two cars hadn't even reached the junction which led to the Kan'Etsu Expressway when Seiko, maybe guessing where they were heading, turned sharply to look at her travel companion and, giving him a frown, she said:

'Please tell me we're not going to Tokyo.'

'Alright,' Bunta replied with a small smile beginning to curve his lips, 'I won't tell you.'

'We are, aren't we?' Seiko insisted.

'Hey,' Bunta complained amusedly, 'I thought you didn't want me to tell you.'

'Oh gosh…'

'What?' Bunta asked now getting a bit concerned even though it was truly beyond him why anyone could have anything against going to the capital.

'You could have told me earlier!' Seiko protested, 'look at what I'm wearing!' she complained pointing at her tiny dress, looking at it with a disgusted scowl on her face.

'What's wrong with it?' Bunta asked her.

'Everything!' Seiko exclaimed, 'if I had known we were going to Tokyo, I would have worn something a lot more chic.'

'A lot more what?' Bunta asked her, this time turning briefly to look at her.

'Oh…you just don't get it,' Seiko replied crossing her arms on top of her chest then, looking as if she'd just had the best idea of the century, she said, 'I know, let's go back home, we're still on time.'

'Don't be silly,' Bunta said, 'you look great the way you are,' he added and that, for some strange reason, made Seiko glance at him with a very tiny smile then, biting her lower lip in a very cute manner, she said:

'You think so?'

Bunta stared at her for just a few seconds before turning his attention back at the road.

'You know you look amazing,' he said with as much nonchalance as he could muster and that made Seiko laugh softly.

'Thanks,' she timidly said.

After this, there was a brief moment during which neither of the two spoke and, fearing that not finding another topic of conversation they would have to make the entire trip in silence, Bunta raked his brain trying to come up with something to talk about.

'So,' he finally said, 'you've got a very interesting sister.'

'Yeah, right,' Seiko said with more than a hit of sarcasm, 'Fuka's right: my sister is a nightmare. Sometimes I wish I was an only child.'

'Why?' Bunta asked her.

'You don't have any brothers or sisters, do you?' Seiko asked him in what sounded more like an affirmation rather than an actual question.

'Nope,' he replied, 'how do you know?'

'It's obvious you don't,' Seiko commented.

'Sometimes I wish I had a sibling,' he confessed.

'Well,' Seiko said with a short laugh, 'you're free to have my sister if you want her.'

Bunta stared at her in disbelief for that sentence of hers could be interpreted in a highly disturbing way then, realising he was just letting his hyperactive imagination take over, Bunta shook his head and, once again, turned his attention back at the road.

'So,' Seiko said, 'where is it that we're going exactly.'

He then spent the next few minutes explaining to her all about his very first, unofficial race against Takao, just days before he moved from Tokyo to Shibukawa and, predictably enough, Seiko seemed to be so fascinated by the whole thing that, at the end she was even keener with the idea of going to Tokyo.

'I hope we find them,' she said as both cars left the motorway to drive down to the old port area where Bunta had first found Yoshiki and the rest of his street racing team.

'Me too,' Bunta replied while checking on the Toyota's rear view mirror that he still had Yuuichi's Mazda behind. Then, he looked ahead once again and what he saw made him smile: parked along the sides of the road they were driving on, there were a few of the cars he'd seen during the first and only time he'd been there, 'I'd say we've found them,' Bunta added happily.

He turned the hazard lights on for a few instants to signal Yuuichi that they had found the place and that they had to find somewhere safe where to park their cars. Bunta was just manoeuvring to get his car as close to the wall as possible when he saw the dark gold Mazda RX-2 with twin white stripes which belonged to Takao, Bunta's first ever rival.

Seeing that the older guy had obviously recognised the white Toyota 2000GT, Bunta hurried to climb out of his car while he asked Seiko to do the same.

'Oh-ho,' Takao said as he too got out of his Mazda, 'look at who we have here!'

'Hi,' Bunta greeted him with a casual wave of his hand; 'I'm sorry if…' he started but the sudden arrival of Takao's team leader made him stop speaking. Yoshiki looked as elegant and classy as always and was surrounded by his usual group of friends and fans.

'About time you showed up,' the guy said, 'what happened to you?'

'It's a very long story,' Bunta replied, 'I won't bore you with the whole thing so I'll just say that I now live in Shibukawa, in the Gunma prefecture.'

'Fair enough,' Yoshiki said taking the hint then, looking over at Yuuichi's Capella, he added, 'you've brought a friend with you?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'this is Tachibana Yuuichi and they're Fuka-chan and Seiko-chan,' he added then, looking at Yuuichi he said, 'this is Yoshiki-san and his friend Takao-san.'

'Hi,' Yuuichi said shyly.

'Nice ride,' Takao commented looking at the teenager's dark blue Mazda Capella which was almost identical to his own dark gold RX-2.

'Thanks,' Yuuichi replied.

'So,' Yoshiki said, 'what are you doing here? Getting nostalgic?'

'Kind of,' Bunta replied, 'I was wondering if we could just…'

'You owe me a rematch,' Takao interrupted him, 'and, since you're here.'

Bunta stared at him for a few moments and was about to nod his acceptance to the older guy's challenge when he saw Yoshiki shaking his head.

'Takao,' he said, 'I wonder if you could forget about your rematch.'

'Yoshiki-san…'

'Like you said, he's here and, since he's moved quite far away, I don't think I'll have another chance.'

'What are you saying?' Bunta asked him, 'you want to race against me?' he said while trying not to sound nor too hopeful nor scared for, in reality, he was a bit of both.

'That's exactly what I want,' Yoshiki confirmed, 'unless you have other plans,' he added indicating the two girls with his head, 'because, if that's the case, I would perfectly understand if you prefer to spend some time with such a beautiful pair of ladies…'

Bunta wanted to laugh at the way Seiko's face seemed to brighten up making it look like a Christmas tree then, after doing a quick check with Yuuichi, he nodded and said:

'I'm up for that race but, I think my friend here wants to race too.'

'Is that so?' Yoshiki asked glancing at Yuuichi who, probably feeling rather scared, he said:

'Yeah but I'm not very good so…'

'Of course you're not,' Yoshiki interrupted him with a short disbelieving laugh, 'that's what your friend Bunta said before beating the pants off Takao.'

'No, no, I'm serious,' Yuuichi insisted while the poor Takao looked positively mortified after having been so bluntly reminded of his defeat to Bunta who, meanwhile, seemed to be indecisive about whether he should support his friend or not.

'Alright,' Yoshiki finally conceded, 'we'll do it this way: since Takao here wanted to race your friend but I've asked him not to because I want to race him myself, what do you say if you race Takao instead?'

Bunta wanted to say no but, before he could open his mouth, he saw Yuuichi nodding.

'Okay,' he said.

'Takao?' Yoshiki asked to his friend.

'Fine by me,' Takao replied, 'after all, it's going to be a great race: my rotary engined Mazda against your piston one.'

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied.

'After that,' Yoshiki said looking at Bunta, 'it'll be my baby against your 2000GT,' he added pointing at his car, a yellow 1967 Mazda Cosmo Sport 110, which was parked nearby.

'Sure,' Bunta replied.

Five minutes later, the time it took for Yoshiki's guys to clear the starting point of the race, a very nervous Yuuichi sat behind the steering wheel of his car while Bunta crouched next to his window so he could speak to his friend without being heard by anyone else.

'Listen Yuuichi,' he said, 'Takao is very good and he knows this track very well.'

'You're not helping,' Yuuichi complained sounding, if that was possible, even more anxious than what he looked.

'Be quiet and pay attention,' Bunta insisted, 'Takao's got a weak point: he seems to be afraid of getting too close to the walls when he turns so, you can try and push your car into the gap he leaves. Do that at the beginning of the race and then make sure he doesn't overtake you…'

'You make it sound so easy,' Yuuichi protested.

'It is,' Bunta said then, poking at Yuuichi's temple with his index finger, he added, 'if you think you can do it, you'll win, understood?'

'Alright,' Yuuichi replied making Bunta stare at him while trying to decide whether Yuuichi was just agreeing with him for the sake of being left alone or what then, shaking his head, Bunta got up and said:

'You'll be fine, trust me.'

With that, he walked to where Fuka and Seiko were, noticing that the two girls were indeed having the time of their lives, yet again, they had so many street racers around that they seemed to have trouble trying to decide where to look at.

'Having fun?' he asked them rhetorically.

'Yes,' Seiko replied nonetheless then, giving him a very quick peck on his cheek, she whispered in his hear, 'remind me to thank you later for bringing us here.'

Bunta felt like his heart skipped a beat and it took him a full five seconds before he remembered that he had to keep on breathing. He almost forgot about the fact that his friend Yuuichi was about to start his first race ever.

'Ready?' Yoshiki shouted to the two drivers who had their cars already lined up. It was quite a sight, Bunta decided, seeing the two very similar Mazda parked side by side with their white stripes painted over the dark blue and dark gold paintwork of Yuuichi's Capella and Takao's RX-2.

As soon as he saw the two men nodding from the inside of their rides, Yoshiki started the countdown and, at the go, Bunta held once more his breath, this time seeing how badly behind Takao had left the poor Yuuichi.

'Come on, Yuuichi!' he shouted almost angrily.

'He wasn't kidding then,' Bunta heard Yoshiki say, making him feel even angrier, 'I thought he…'

'Look,' Bunta interrupted him, 'this is his first race and we've just got started, it's too soon to say anything.'

'Alright,' Yoshiki said, 'I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to insult him or anything.'

Bunta looked at him and, realising that the older guy did indeed look like he hadn't meant any offence, he just nodded and said:

'Let's just see what happens, shall we?'

Meanwhile, Yuuichi had quite the trouble keeping up with Takao who, as usual, was going all flat out at the track he knew so well. They had just cleared one of the ninety-degree corners which formed the street circuit when Yuuichi saw that Takao's RX-2 had disappeared from his sight.

'What the…' the poor kid muttered to himself.

Depressing the accelerator pedal even farther down, he tightened the grasp on the steering wheel while he pushed aside the painful shame he was beginning to feel. He simply could not lose that badly.

Not that he thought he could win but, he didn't want to be beaten like this. Not in front of Fuka and, most specially, not in front of Bunta.

He kept his determination all the way around the first lap and, as he passed the start/finish line, trying to ignore the fact that his schoolmate had probably seen Takao's car going past ages before, he saw the backlights of the RX-2 a bit further ahead.

Yuuichi then tried to give a bit more gas to his car, if only his Capella had as much acceleration power as Bunta's Toyota, Yuuichi thought in desperation.

Alas, and despite all the work he'd put on it, his Mazda simply didn't have what it took to catch up with the highly tuned RX-2 from Takao and, at the end of the race, the poor teenager crossed the finish line a full seven seconds after the much older guy.

'You did well,' Yoshiki told him as Yuuichi climbed out of his car with his head bowed in defeat.

'Yeah right,' the kid said sarcastically.

'I'm serious,' Yoshiki insisted, 'before your friend showed up in here, no one but me had ever beaten Takao in this track.'

'Yeah,' Takao added, 'just the fact that you managed to keep up with me is worth of admiration. Well done kid.'

'You did your best,' Bunta said, patting his friend's shoulder, 'and that's what's important.'

'Exactly,' Yoshiki agreed.

'It's alright if you haven't won,' Fuka intervened speaking with an uncharacteristic shy tone of voice, 'I think you looked very cool…'

It was rather funny that, whereas none of the men's remarks had done the trick, hearing Fuka's comment made Yuuichi smile at her in a way which made Bunta look at both Yoshiki and Takao with a very knowing expression on his face.

'Figures,' Takao said laughing as he walked towards his groupies to celebrate his victory properly.

'Well,' Yoshiki started, 'I'd say we're next…'

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'I'll go and get my car.'

'Me too,' Yoshiki said and, with that, both men went to get their rides while Yuuichi allowed Fuka to comfort him for his defeat making Bunta shake his head. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that Yuuichi had lost on purpose to get Fuka to be nicer to him…

'You'll win this race, won't you?' Seiko asked him as he climbed into his Toyota.

'I'll try,' Bunta replied.

'If you win…' Seiko started then, getting all flustered all of a sudden, she said, 'well…you better win!'

He was, once more, left speechless by the extremely bold manner in which Seiko seemed to want to say something which made the poor Bunta lose all his concentration in a dangerously fast way.

'Focus,' he admonished himself trying stop thinking of what the girl had implied.

Five minutes later, they repeated the pre-race proceedings, this time with Yoshiki's Cosmo Sport and Bunta's 2000GT. Unlike for Takao and Yuuichi's race, which had seemed to be a rather informal affair, for this one, every one of the spectators seemed to be paying a lot of attention.

'I'm so happy I came here tonight!' they heard one of the girls from the public say.

'Why is that?' Seiko asked her.

'Why?' the girl repeated looking incredulous, 'do you know how rare it is seeing Yoshiki-sama racing these days?'

'He doesn't race often?' Yuuichi asked.

'No,' Takao replied, coming out of nowhere, 'nowadays he only races when he thinks that there's someone who is good enough for his standards.'

'Is he that good?' Fuka asked innocently and that made everyone stare at her with even more incredulous expressions on their faces.

'Sweetheart,' Takao said patronisingly, 'let's just say that, compared to him, I'm a newbie.'

'Oh shit,' Yuuichi muttered as he stared at Bunta who was already sitting inside his Toyota, getting ready for the race.

'Indeed,' Takao said then, smiling at both Fuka and Seiko, he added, 'now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go and do the countdown.'

They all observed as the older guy walked in front of the two sports cars and, raising his arm with his hand open, he started counting down from five and, at the GO, Yuuichi saw as the yellow Cosmo took off leaving Bunta's Toyota behind with as much ease as during his own race against Takao.

'Bunta…' he whispered almost inaudibly.

Takao hadn't exaggerated one bit and Bunta soon realised that this was probably going to be his hardest race yet: Yoshiki seemed to just make his car go on rails and he made it drift around the corners with a level of control that Bunta had never seen before in anyone other than his uncle Eikichi.

'Shit,' he muttered seeing that, unless he did something soon, Yoshiki would leave him behind just the same way Takao had done with Yuuichi.

The question was: what could he do?

The answer to that came to Bunta as they cruised down one of the long straights which formed the circuit. Yes. It was the only thing he could do really, he thought hoping that he could pull it off.

He kept his car as close as possible to Yoshiki's while trying to adjust his driving style to copy that of the older guy, making sure he braked at the exact same point and opened the throttle in the same way Yoshiki did, praying so that he would be choosing the right gear too.

That would probably not allow him to overtake Yoshiki but at least Bunta hoped that he could keep up with him for long enough to come up with yet another strategy.

Half way through the first lap, Bunta realised that his rival was doing something really strange with his car and, as he watched its behaviour a lot more closely, he saw what was wrong.

'The bastard…' Bunta whispered with a smirk.

Yoshiki was trying to mess up with Bunta's line by altering his own in a way which made it impossible for Bunta to figure out when the older guy would brake.

'Alright,' Bunta said to himself as he decided to keep on driving the same way he'd done up to now, noticing with immense pleasure that by copying Yoshiki's driving, he'd learned a much more effective way to tackle the right angle corners which formed this circuit.

This also gave him a bonus: Yoshiki's erratic driving had caused him to lose a bit of speed allowing for Bunta to close the gap which separated him from the Cosmo and, by the time they crossed the finish line to start what was the second and last lap of the race, Bunta had the front of his Toyota stuck onto the rear of the Mazda.

'What the…' Takao commented to himself seeing something which, up to then, he'd thought it was impossible.

'I though you said he was good,' Fuka told him making Takao turn sharply to look at her.

'He is the BEST,' he insisted, 'your friend here is just lucky,' he added looking at Yuuichi who didn't really know what to do nor say.

Meanwhile, Bunta used the aerodynamic advantage he had now to let his brain relax for just a bit while he tried to decide what to do next. He could try to stay like this for the rest of the race which would afford him an honourable defeat…

'No way!' he exclaimed feeling ashamed that he'd even considered something like that, not daring to think of what his uncle Eikichi would say if he ever found out about it.

He had to pass him, he had to. He didn't know how but he would at least try to overtake him.

They were drifting around one of the sharp corners, with Bunta sticking his car as close as possible to the side of the Cosmo when, at long last, an idea came up to his mind.

Yoshiki, unlike Takao, didn't seem to have any weak points and, like he'd seen before, he didn't leave any useful space at either side of his car when they turned the corners so, Bunta decided that he would try something he'd read about and that he'd seen once on some TV show. According to the magazine, it was a very dangerous manoeuvre and he needed all the concentration he possessed to try it.

Taking a couple of deep, steadying breaths, he waited until they had passed the mid point of the second lap to detach himself from the Mazda's rear bumper and, aiming for the small space Yoshiki left between his car and the corner's wall, Bunta did what no one had ever tried before on this track:

Shifting the weight of his car all the way to the left side tyres of his car, he made the right ones lift up from the ground and, driving onto the car's left side only, he managed to get the 2000GT through the corner albeit he did graze the side of it against the wall in a way which made him fear that he'd end up crashing against it.

However, his fear was nothing compared to that of Yoshiki: the poor guy, seeing the ski drift Bunta had just pulled, freaked out so badly that he made his Mazda veer sideways, his preservation instinct probably wanting him to keep his car as far away from Bunta's as possible.

Unfortunately for Yoshiki and distracted as he was by the beautiful, yet mortally dangerous manoeuvre Bunta was performing, he didn't see the very solid brick wall which was at the right side of the track.

_To be continued…_


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Twelve_

Even many days later, Yoshiki would still not know how he managed to sense that his Cosmo was getting dangerously close to the wall. In any case, he felt beyond grateful he did for it allowed him to slam the brake pedal so hard that, even though he was wearing his seatbelt, the inertia sent him crashing against the steering wheel.

Thankfully his arms acted as some sort of coil and that prevented him from smashing his head against it. Sadly, the same could not be said for his poor Mazda: despite the sudden stop, the car still scratched its right side against the brick wall and Yoshiki didn't need to get out of the car to know that he'd ruined that part of the bodywork.

'Shit,' he muttered, feeling somewhat relieved to hear that the engine was still running.

From his own car, and after having landed back onto all four of its tyres, Bunta saw the moment when Yoshiki's Mazda crashed against the wall, sending a few sparks flying all over the place.

'Holy crap,' Bunta whispered as, he too, halted his car.

He then jumped out of it and found himself running towards the yellow Cosmo, letting a sigh of relief when seeing that Yoshiki seemed to be alright. He walked to the left side of the car and, tapping onto the passenger's window, he waited till Yoshiki leant towards that side's door and rolled the window's pane down.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'you're okay?'

'Yeah,' Yoshiki replied, 'why did you stop?' he then asked.

'Er…' Bunta hesitated, 'well, you've crashed,' he replied, feeling rather stupid for having to point out the very obvious.

'So?' Yoshiki asked, 'the engine's till running. I could now drive off and leave you here…'

'I don't think so,' Bunta said firmly, 'that would make you a bastard and you're a nice guy.'

Yoshiki stared at him for a few instants looking unsure as to what to say to that.

'You're right,' he finally said, 'I'm a nice guy…and you're nuts…'

'Yeah, they do say that about me,' a smiling Bunta replied scratching his cheek with the index finger of his right hand then, getting serious again, he added, 'what do we do now?'

'Go back to your car and drive ahead, I'd say we've finished for today,' Yoshiki replied.

'What about the race?' Bunta asked him.

'What about it?' Yoshiki asked back, 'you've won it, haven't you?'

'What? No…I…'

'Come on, don't make me say it again,' Yoshiki insisted, allowing for a bit of the anger he felt towards himself show through his voice.

'What about your reputation?' Bunta asked.

'My what?'

'You know,' Bunta replied, 'you're the team leader and…this is your home course…'

'Bunta,' Yoshiki said, 'just because I've lost one race doesn't mean I'm not able to beat anyone I want in here, besides, even the best drivers lose every now and then. Winning all the time can get pretty boring.'

'I guess you're right,' Bunta said then, staring at his opponent for a few instants, he turned round and walked back to his car, the engine of which was still on as well as its headlights.

A couple of minutes later, Takao, Yuuichi and the rest of the people there were stunned to see the two cars cruising towards the finish line at a relatively low speed. If that wasn't enough of a shock, the facts of seeing Bunta's car leading that of Yoshiki and all the scratches the Cosmo's paintwork now sported definitely freaked everyone out.

'What happened?' Takao asked his team leader, sounding almost hysterical.

'He's won, that's what's happened,' Yoshiki replied calmly.

'H-how?' Takao stuttered while looking from his leader to Bunta then back at his leader as if trying to figure out if this was some sort of weird nightmare.

'He did a beautiful ski drift,' Yoshiki replied pointing at Bunta with his thumb, 'I got distracted by it and I crashed my car. It was my fault.'

Bunta was rendered speechless witnessing the elegant way in which the older guy was accepting his defeat, making Bunta think that, whereas he'd won the race, Yoshiki had beaten him with his sportsmanship.

'I'd say we could call it a draw,' Bunta said, 'we could try to settle this some other time.'

'You want another race?' Yoshiki asked him incredulously.

'Well…I….'

'That's right!' Yuuichi finally managed to say for he'd remained very quiet throughout the entire exchange, probably unable to believe that his schoolmate had managed to beat such an obviously seasoned street racer.

'What?' Bunta asked him, almost afraid of the answer.

'You could come to Shibukawa and…'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta interrupted him, 'what in the heck are you talking about?'

'Let him finish, please,' Yoshiki said, 'I'm just curious,' he added looking at Takao who then glanced at Yuuichi.

'Well,' he said, 'there's a mountain pass where we live and…I don't know, you guys could race there.'

'Yuuichi…' Bunta started.

'That's an excellent idea,' Yoshiki said, 'I'll need some time to get my car fixed but, I agree. Gunma's not too far away from here so, I guess we could make it there fairly easily.'

'Alright,' Bunta agreed, not that he had much of an option, 'come whenever you want, I'm there most days.'

'Great,' Yoshiki said putting his hand forward for Bunta to shake it, 'that's a deal,' he said while he and Bunta shook hands.

'Yep,' Bunta replied.

'Now,' Yoshiki said, 'we'll let you go so you can enjoy the rest of the evening with your girlfriends.'

He and Takao then walked away from them without giving Bunta the time to correct him but then, noticing how pleased Seiko looked made him think that she didn't seem to mind being called his girlfriend all that much.

'What do we do now?' Fuka asked all of a sudden.

'I've got an idea,' Yuuichi replied, 'why don't we go for a walk along the port's promenade?'

Both the girls nodded their approval to the idea so, Bunta, seeing that the odds were against him, he agreed to the plan too.

'Alright,' he said, 'we'll have to drive there.'

All four of them got back into the cars and, driving away from Yoshiki and his group of friends who still seemed to be recovering from the shock of having seen his leader lose to some outsider kid who, by the way, had also beaten their other hero Takao.

Looking at the taillights of Yuuichi's Capella, Bunta felt grateful that they were walking out of this in one piece for he had feared that Yoshiki would get mad at him and would order to the members of his team to beat the crap out of both Bunta and Yuuichi.

'This is so beautiful!' Seiko's delighted exclamation took him out of his reverie and then, glancing over the steering wheel and towards the point the girl was indicating, he saw the harbour promenade which was illuminated by some streetlights and had a few kiosks selling beverages and food.

'Let's get something to eat,' Yuuichi proposed when they were all out of the cars.

'Great idea,' Bunta said, 'I'm starving.'

After getting some freshly steamed nikuman and a few cans of soda, the two couples walked side by side while munching their food away, laughing when, at some point, poor Yuuichi burnt himself with one particularly hot nikuman.

'Very funny,' the poor kid complained as he drank from his can of soda, trying to cool off his scalded tongue.

'Sit down in here,' Fuka suggested pointing at a nearby bench.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi agreed and, with that, Bunta and Seiko saw as Fuka started looking after Yuuichi, offering her own hankie to him in case he needed it.

'Oh Bunta, it's so pretty!' Seiko exclaimed all of a sudden, 'please let's go there!' she added indicating a nearby carousel that had white horses which were attached to beautifully crafted mini carriages.

'Guys, want to go too?' Bunta asked to both Yuuichi and Fuka who, for some reason, were staring at each other so intently that they didn't seem to hear his question.

'Let's go,' Seiko told him, grabbing him by his arm and dragging him away from his schoolmate. Deciding that it was better if he just did what she was telling him, Bunta followed her to the carousel and, after paying for a couple of tokens, they climbed into one of the carriages, realising a split second too late that the thing itself was pretty cramped. Yet again, it had probably been designed for kids…

'Cosy, huh?' he asked her sarcastically.

'It's so romantic,' she replied instead.

'Er…I…' Bunta stuttered finding her closeness to him a bit more than disturbing, not that he minded though, he only hoped that he wouldn't lose it.

'I think that Fuka and Yuuichi will get together after tonight,' Seiko announced.

'You think so?' Bunta asked her.

'I hope so,' she said, 'Fuka's been after Yuuichi for quite a while. Don't tell him that though!' she exclaimed.

'No, no,' he hurried to assure her then, laughing softly, he added, 'what's with Yuuichi though? He seems pretty popular with the girls…'

'He is,' Seiko replied, 'I've known him for a long time and he's always been like that.'

'Why?' Bunta asked, 'I mean, he's nothing special or…'

'Hey,' Seiko protested, 'he's your best friend, isn't he?'

'Best friend?' Bunta asked her sounding surprised then, after thinking about it for a short while, he nodded and said, 'I guess he is…'

'Well,' Seiko said, 'the thing is, he's a really sweet guy and girls like that.'

'Do they?' Bunta asked now sounding worried for he didn't think he could be considered the sweet type.

'Some of them do,' Seiko replied.

'What do you like?' Bunta managed to ask her.

She never replied for, right at that instant, the carousel started spinning and Seiko used that as an excuse not to answer to his question, instead, she seemed to be having such a good time that she seemed to be a lot younger than her nineteen years of age.

After that, Bunta and Seiko stepped out of the carriage and walked back to where they had left Fuka and Yuuichi to find that they were no longer there.

'Where in the heck are they?' Bunta asked Seiko.

'I don't know,' the girl replied, 'we could go for a walk to see if we find them.'

'Yeah, let's do that,' Bunta replied as he started walking back to where the carousel was, passing it and making his way to one of the harbour's pier.

'Slow down!' Seiko complained actually sounding so short of breath that it made Bunta realise that he'd been walking rather fast. He then stopped and, scratching his cheek, he said:

'I'm sorry, I'm just worried about Yuuichi.'

'You shouldn't be,' Seiko said, 'I'm sure they're fine.'

'Then, what are we…'

Bunta didn't have time to finish the sentence for, Seiko, after making sure that there was no one around them at the pier, she closed the gap between herself and Bunta and, putting her hand on the back of his neck, forced him down so that she could place her lips onto his.

Right at that instant, Bunta's brain stopped registering anything except the fact that he was being kissed by a gorgeous looking girl then, in what probably was the very last trace of lucidity he had left, he took her by her shoulders and, pressing her against him, he started returning the kiss.

How long it had been, he didn't know, the only thing he realised was that, at some point during the kiss, both he and Seiko had managed to find a small bench which was placed along the wooden poles which formed the pier's veranda.

'Wow,' he finally managed to say.

'I don't like sweet guys,' she commented and it took Bunta's half stunned brain a couple of instants to connect that sentence to his earlier question.

'I see,' Bunta said, 'that's good.'

They spent a couple of minutes in complete silence, listening to the sound of the seawater crashing against the pillars which sustained the pier.

'Do you remember what I said before the race?' Seiko suddenly asked.

'What about it?' Bunta asked.

'I meant it,' she said making him feel even more confused, 'Bunta I'm not a…you know…'

Bunta felt like his eyes flew open and his throat became very dry all of a sudden. So dry in fact that he started coughing rather violently.

'W-what are…what are you saying?' he managed to say between one cough and another.

'I'm saying that I wouldn't say no if you asked me to go somewhere else,' she replied with an admiringly firm tone of voice.

'Seiko,' he said feeling rather alarmed, 'isn't this a bit too soon? I mean, we barely know each other and…'

'Where do you think Yuuichi and Fuka are right now?' Seiko asked him.

'What?' Bunta asked her, 'oh…wow…' he gasped noticing the knowing look she was giving him, 'that Yuuichi,' he then said smiling while he shook his head then, seeing that Seiko was still waiting for an answer, he added, 'look, you're a really beautiful girl but, I do want to take things a bit more…you know, slowly.'

'Are you saying no?' Seiko asked him.

'I'm saying I want to get to know you a bit better before we do something like that,' Bunta replied refusing to allow her hurt influence his answer.

'Wow,' she gasped, 'you really are something special,' she added grinning at him happily.

'What's going on?' Bunta then asked her not remembering a time when he'd felt anymore confused.

'It was a test,' she explained, 'I wanted to see what you would do if I proposed you to go to a love hotel.'

'WHAT?' Bunta exclaimed, 'what the…'

'And you've passed the test,' Seiko said taking his astounded looking face in her hands and planting yet another kiss on his lips, 'the more I'm with you, the more I like you,' she then added.

Bunta just shook his head in disbelief. Girls, he thought, were really, really confusing.

It turned out that Seiko's trick had only been partly false for Yuuichi and Fuka did indeed disappear to go somewhere else and, at the end, both Bunta and Seiko had to go back to Shibukawa on their own and, by the time he dropped the girl by her house at around midnight, she and he had agreed to start seeing each other.

A few minutes later, he parked his 2000GT back home to find that Eikichi was, as usual, working on the tofu that would be delivered a few hours later.

'You look happy,' Eikichi commented.

'I am,' Bunta replied.

'Why? Did you get yourself a girlfriend?' Eikichi asked only half joking.

'Yep,' Bunta replied and, for the first time since he'd moved in with the old man, he had the satisfaction of seeing an astonished expression on his face, 'I'm off to bed.'

As he climbed the stairs on his way up to his room, he heard Eikichi letting out a soft chuckle and that made his smile widen even more.

He had a girlfriend now…

'Wow,' Bunta gasped to himself while he removed his jeans and jumper before he collapsed onto his bed then, and despite the fact that he was actually pretty tired, he just couldn't sleep, mainly because his brain was in overdrive remembering everything that had happened that night.

He was replying the race in his head when, thinking about the manoeuvre he'd managed to pull made him jump back out of the bed.

'Where are you going?' Eikichi asked him when he saw his nephew walking back into the shop's working area.

'I'm going to try something,' he replied.

'Now?' Eikichi asked him, 'Bunta, it's almost two o'clock in the morning, where do you want to go?'

'Akina,' Bunta replied making his way to the door.

'Hang on a minute,' Eikichi insisted, 'you've just been out all day, you need to get some rest or you'll end up crashing that car of yours.'

That made Bunta stop walking then, turning round, he trained his features so that he would look as serious and responsible as possible before he said:

'I won't be long; I just need to see if I can do it again.'

'Do what?' Eikichi asked him.

'A ski drift,' Bunta replied with nonchalance.

Eikichi stared at him for a few instants almost as though he was trying to figure out if the kid was lying to him then, clearly deciding that Bunta was being serious, he nodded a couple of times.

'Can I go then?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes,' Eikichi said, 'just remember this: don't try it downhill until you've mastered it on a flat surface.'

'Why not?' Bunta asked.

'Because if you get anything wrong and you're going downhill, you'll make the car roll onto itself and you could end up down one of the cliffs.'

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'I get it.'

'I hope you do,' Eikichi said, 'mastering the ski drift is not something you can do in one night so, take your time, alright?'

'I will,' Bunta replied.

'I'll see you up there then,' Eikichi said, reminding Bunta that in just two hours time his uncle would be doing his nightly delivery. This mean the only had two hours to try emulating what he'd only done in an unconscious way and driven by desperation.

Fifteen minutes later, Bunta had his car stopped on the parking space at the base of the pass. There, he started driving forward, trying to pick as much speed as he could to see if he could, once again, swift the weight of his car all the way to the left side of it.

After several attempts, he managed to lift the right tyres off the tarmac, managing to turn a couple of times but it still was a far cry from the beautifully executed manoeuvre which had allowed him to beat Yoshiki.

'Not good,' Bunta said to himself.

He then decided to drive up the mountain and towards the lake where the car park was a lot bigger. That's right, he thought, he needed a lot more space to do what he wanted.

Bunta was trying to remember what he'd done with the car back at the port area in Tokyo when he saw a couple of headlights reflected on his rear view mirror.

'Here he is,' he muttered to himself thinking that it was probably his uncle driving up in his Isuzu Bellett then, looking at the car's clock, he realised that it was an hour too early for Eikichi to be there.

'What the…' he said seeing that the unknown driver was flashing his car's lights at him.

Veering towards the side of the road, he pulled over and, climbing out of his Toyota, Bunta saw that the car behind him was a brand new Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R painted in such a deep shade of blue that it seemed almost purple.

'Hello there,' a spectacled guy who seemed to be around his same age said, 'I'm so happy I've found you.'

'Who are you?' Bunta asked him.

'I'm from Nikko, in the Tochigi prefecture,' the guy replied, 'and my name is Kogashiwa Ken.'

_To be continued…_


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirteen_

Bunta stared at the newcomer for a good five seconds before smirking in a very cocky way while thinking that Yuuichi was right: he really was beginning to get rather famous, now even people from other prefectures wanted to challenge him!

'Excuse me,' he heard the bespectacled guy say, reminding him of his presence there.

'So, what can I do for you?' Bunta asked him crossing his arms onto his chest.

Ken Kogashiwa looked taken aback for a few instants but then, obviously recovering his ability to speak and showing Bunta an even cockier grin, he pushed his glasses up his nose and asked:

'What about a race?'

How predictable! Bunta thought to himself while trying his best not to burst out laughing.

'Where did you say you come from?' he asked instead.

'Nikko, home of the famous Irohazaka course,' Ken replied proudly.

'Iro-what-now?' Bunta asked using such a carefree tone of voice that made Ken do yet another double take.

'You don't know anything about the Irohazaka course?' he somehow managed to ask.

'Nope,' Bunta replied.

'Ah..,' Ken gasped, 'well, it doesn't matter,' he added, 'I don't want to race you there. I want to race you here so, when would you be free?'

'Er...' Bunta hesitated while thinking of all his commitments: going to school, his part time job, the time he spent during his practices at Akina and...of course, Seiko-chan, 'I'm not sure,' he finally said, 'I'll have to get back to you.'

Once again, Ken looked shocked by Bunta's attitude only that, this time, it seemed as though as he was more irritated than surprised and, in fact, he frowned and, pointing at Bunta with his index finger, he said:

'Who do you think you are?'

Bunta opened his mouth to reply to that question when, clearly not wanting to have an answer to it, Ken turned round and started making his way back to his car.

'This doesn't end here,' Bunta heard him say while he climbed back into the Nissan, 'you may think you're too good for me but, mark my words: you're going to regret this!'

With this, he slammed shut his car's door and, starting its engine, took off uphill passing so close to where Bunta was that he visibly stumbled having to lean onto his car in order to stop himself from falling onto his butt.

'What the...' he muttered to himself. What in the heck had just happened?

Deciding that this Ken guy was completely out of his mind, Bunta climbed back into his Toyota, the engine of which was still on and, pressing the clutch, he entered the first gear and started driving back up to the car park, hoping that he wouldn't find that psycho again...

He hadn't even completed this thought when he saw a set of tail lights right ahead of him: those of Ken's Nissan.

'That's just great,' Bunta muttered to himself while he started veering towards the left side of the road in what he knew it was a useless attempt at trying to overtake the guy who, seeing what Bunta was trying to do, moved his car to place it immediately in front of the 2000GT.

'Fair enough,' Bunta said moving his hand to the switch that controlled the headlights, flashing them a couple of times to signal Ken to start driving faster which, thankfully, he did without having to be asked twice.

Considering the brief distance that separated them from the mountain's summit, this was going to be a very short race and, therefore, Bunta thought that the sooner he started attacking, the better for, there was something about this guy's driving that told him that overtaking him wasn't going to be so easy.

Not even here in Akina.

Bunta pressed the accelerator and stuck the front of his car to the back of the Nissan, waiting till the exit of the corner to make his first move: veering sharply inwards, he detached the front of his car from the back of Ken's and, right as the two of them were speeding up the short, straight segment of the road, Bunta moved his car to place it side by side with the GT-R.

They entered the following corner with both front bumpers level with each other and, despite the fact that Ken seemed even less willing to give up than Bunta, he had to surrender at the end given that Bunta had the advantage having positioned himself at the inside of the corner.

Too easy, Bunta thought and was about to prepare himself to block his opponent when, all of a sudden, he saw through his rear view mirror as Ken Kogashiwa cut across the road behind him to start attacking him in exactly the same way Bunta had just done.

'What the…' he muttered while tightening the grasp onto his car's steering wheel.

After a first unsuccessful attack by Ken, Bunta realised that he didn't have any other choice and, despite hating what he did next, he knew that there was no other way to get rid of that guy so, flooring the throttle, Bunta sped up away from the Nissan, using his car's engine higher power to put as much distance as he could between the two of them.

When a few instants later Bunta reached the lakeside's car park, he stopped his car there and, even before he had the time to unfasten his seatbelt, he saw the dark blue Nissan driving past him so fast that it made Bunta do a double take.

'Oh crap,' Bunta whispered to himself as he climbed out of his car. It had happened again: he'd won the confrontation but, somehow, it just didn't feel right.

About an hour later and with Bunta still feeling worried about what had just happened, he saw yet another set of highlights coming towards him but, this time, they were the very familiar looking ones of his uncle's Isuzu Bellett.

'Hey,' the old man said after having stopped next to the youngster, 'any luck?'

'What?' Bunta asked him.

'The ski drift,' Eikichi explained frowning at him, 'that was the whole point of you coming here, isn't it?'

'Er…,' Bunta started, 'yeah, right.'

'You couldn't do it again, could you?' Eikichi asked while he climbed out of his car.

'Er…' Bunta hesitated again, 'something peculiar happened.'

'What did?' Eikichi asked him, 'you didn't break anything from the car, did you?'

'Of course not,' Bunta replied getting slightly offended, 'it's just that…can I ask you something?'

'You've just done it,' Eikichi replied crossing his arms onto his chest and smirking at Bunta while leaning against the 2000GT.

'Eikichi…' Bunta warned him.

'Alright, alright,' the older man said putting his hands up briefly, only to stuff them into the back pockets of his trousers, 'what's up?' he then added.

'When you raced,' Bunta started, 'did you ever feel bad after winning a race?'

'Sometimes,' Eikichi replied, 'why are you asking?'

'Well,' Bunta said, 'is just that, I don't know why, I just don't like it when I've won counting on my car's higher power or the knowledge of the course or, even worse, out of sheer dumb luck.'

'Bunta,' Eikichi started, 'winning races is mostly all about luck.'

'What about skill?' Bunta asked him.

'That counts too, of course,' Eikichi replied, 'but not as much as luck and how much knowledge you have of both the course and the opponent. I've always said that the more information you have, the better.'

'But Eikichi, Dad always said that having too much information can mess up with the way you're driving,' Bunta said.

'That's true too,' Eikichi admitted, flinching only slightly at the mention of his younger brother, 'however, it's also a skill knowing how much data you need, when and how to apply it.'

'Yeah, I guess you're right.'

'Of course I am,' Eikichi replied giving his nephew one of his arrogant, know-it-all looks then, as if he had just remembered that he was supposed to finish his tofu deliveries, he said, 'alright, I'm going to go now. You stay here and practice that ski drift for a while.'

'Fine,' Bunta said.

'Don't come home until you've figured out what you did and how to do it again, got it?' Eikichi asked him while he climbed back into his car.

'Are you serious?' Bunta asked him worriedly.

'Oh yes,' Eikichi replied and, just before closing the door of his car, he added, 'if you manage to repeat it tonight, I'll think about letting you drive my car.'

With that, and leaving a flabbergasted Bunta behind, Eikichi drove off so fast that it made the teenager wonder whether the sudden move wouldn't break the tofu into a thousand pieces.

'Of course it won't,' he whispered to himself observing the very smooth way in which his uncle tackled the corner that there was right before the hotel's driveway.

Right after that, Bunta climbed back into his own car and, taking a deep breath, he started making it go faster on the flat and wide surface of the lakeside's car park and, after he was sure he had all the speed he needed, he tried to switch all the weight to the left side of the car.

'Oops,' he said stopping the car since it had almost gone out of control, 'let's try again,' he said turning it around to face the opposite end of the car park.

A couple of hours later and since the road was beginning to fill up with cars, Bunta drove back to Shibukawa and to the tofu shop having only managed to get his car onto the left side's tyres while making it turn that way going quite fast. Still a far cry from what he'd done during the race versus Yoshiki but, hey, it was a good start.

He'd been so busy that he hadn't even seen his uncle driving past, stopping briefly to stare at him and taking off once again and, because of this, he was rather surprised to find the old man standing under the tofu shop's doorway, smoking a cigarette.

'You didn't do it,' he said.

'I've tried,' Bunta started.

'Not hard enough,' Eikichi interrupted him then, turning round, he started walking back into the shop's working area and said, 'oh well, I'll let you in this time but, forget about driving my car just yet.'

Bunta frowned hearing this and, letting his frustration get the best out of him, he half muttered:

'Is not like I want to drive it anyway.'

Having heard that made Eikichi let out an amused chuckle and that only made Bunta feel angrier then, dashing past his uncle, he made it up to his bedroom, collapsing onto his bed still fully dressed.

'Just wait and see,' he whispered to himself as though as he was speaking to his uncle, 'I'll do it!'

Right after the morning lessons, a very tired Bunta made his way to the repairs shop where he worked part time, feeling rather uneasy about the fact that Yuuichi had skipped class. Where in the heck was he? Bunta asked himself while deciding that he would try and call the guy as soon as he could.

He was still thinking about that when he saw Masashi about to start working on a car's exhaust system but then, seeing the teenager there, Masashi dropped the screwdriver he had in his hand and started running towards Bunta.

'Hey,' Masashi said, 'what happened last night?'

'What?' Bunta asked him feeling all confused then, remembering about the race with Yoshiki in Tokyo, he went to open his mouth to start telling Masashi about it when, instead, the older guy said:

'You bumped onto some guy from Nikko, didn't you?'

How in the heck did he know that? Bunta asked to himself, 'this town is definitely too small,' he added speaking loudly enough for Masashi to hear him.

'What are you talking about?' he asked him.

'It only happened last night and you know it already,' Bunta replied, 'how did you find out?'

'Someone saw you two racing and they recognised the Nissan,' Masashi replied.

'Someone?' Bunta asked him, 'I didn't see anyone there last night,' he added frowning at his workmate.

'One of our guys was up there with his girlfriend and saw your car drive past followed by that Nissan,' Masashi explained, 'he was quite good, wasn't he?'

'Not too bad,' Bunta admitted.

'Well, he ought to be,' Masashi said, 'he's been practicing at Akina's pass for a while, did you know that?'

'What?' Bunta exclaimed, 'when does he do it? I'm nearly always there and I've never seen him.'

'That's because he usually practices during the morning,' Masashi replied.

'What?' Bunta exclaimed, 'is he crazy?' he then added.

'Look who's talking,' Masashi countered, 'what about that ski drift you pulled during that race in Tokyo?'

'How did you…' Bunta started asking then, replying to his own, unfinished question, he added, 'Yuuichi…'

'Yep,' Masashi confirmed, 'do you have any idea of how dangerous that manoeuvre is? You could wreck your car if you get it wrong.'

'I know,' Bunta replied, 'I haven't perfected it yet but, I'll do it soon, you'll see.'

Masashi smiled seeing the smug expression on the younger man but, since he was beginning to understand that, if Bunta said he could do something, he probably could.

'Speaking of Yuuichi,' Bunta interrupted his train of thought, 'he didn't come to school today, I thought he was sick or something…even though he was fine last night.'

'He's not sick,' Masashi said, 'I saw him this morning when he came to get his car checked.'

'Why would he do that?' Bunta asked him.

'Well,' Masashi said, 'he was afraid he had somehow damaged his precious car during last night's race.'

'Ah, I see,' Bunta replied.

'You know,' Masashi started, grinning in a way which made Bunta want to run away as fast as he could, he added, 'Yuuichi-kun seemed to be particularly happy about something this morning.'

'Masashi,' Bunta hurried to interrupt him, 'where's Irokazaka?'

'You mean Irohazaka, right?' Masashi corrected him.

'Yes,' Bunta replied happy to see that the older guy had taken the bait, 'that Kogashiwa guy from Nikko said it's legendary, why is that?'

'Irohazaka you say,' the two of them heard Nitta-san's deep voice say from somewhere behind them, 'I hope you're not planning on racing there.'

'Why not?' Bunta asked him getting more and more intrigued about that particular mountain pass.

'It's too dangerous,' Nitta-san said, 'unless you've practiced on it for a long while, you can end up down the cliff in no time at all.'

'Really?' Bunta asked sounding so enthusiastic that Masashi couldn't repress a fit of laughter.

'Hey boss,' he then said, 'I think you're getting him more curious rather than scaring him away.'

'You know what,' Bunta suddenly said, 'I think I want to go and see that place by myself.'

'Hey,' Masashi interrupted him, 'what about your race in Akagi? Shouldn't you practice there first?'

'Oh crap,' Bunta replied slapping his forehead remembering that he also needed to go and scout that course too.

'That's the price of fame,' Nitta-san said, 'you're getting too popular for your own good.'

'You've got no idea,' Bunta agreed bending his head down to look at the ground between his feet.

Three hours later and, after having successfully managed to avoid going anywhere near the topic of his newborn romantic relationship with Seiko-can, Bunta greeted everyone so that he could rush back home to clean up before he went to pick her up.

'Off again?' Eikichi asked his nephew seeing him dashing past him towards the door only a few minutes after he'd arrived.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'got to go, bye.'

Eikichi stared at the shop's closing door and, shaking his head, he smiled while thinking that being young really was a wonderful thing for he was pretty certain that Bunta hadn't slept very much in over thirty hours…

After a very short drive, Bunta parked his Toyota right outside Seiko's house and, was about to get out of the car so that he could go and ring the bell when he saw her literally running away from her house with such a terrible expression on her face that it made him frown with concern.

'Let's go,' she ordered him as she climbed into the car, not even allowing him the time to get out of it to open the door for her.

'Are you alright?' Bunta asked her.

'Yes,' she replied a tad too quickly, 'I'll be better once we're away from my house.'

'Alright,' Bunta replied, 'I've got us two tickets for that movie you wanted to watch,' he added while he re-started his car's engine.

'Brilliant,' Seiko replied, forcing herself to give him a smile, managing some sort of weird looking smirk.

'Are you sure you're okay?' Bunta asked her.

'Yes,' Seiko replied, 'please, let's just go and have fun, okay?'

'Sure,' Bunta replied and, as usual, he did his best to stay true to his word: after taking her to the cinema, where he slept for most of the movie, they went for a walk around the city centre to do a bit of window shopping with Bunta feeling very grateful that the shops were closed and, after that, Bunta took her up to the lake where he parked the car.

'You're a really good driver,' Seiko pointed out, 'even when you don't race.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said then, seeing that there still was a small kiosk open which sold several kind of manju, he asked, 'are you hungry?'

'Not really,' Seiko said, 'I had a huge ice-cream earlier on, didn't I?'

'Yes you did,' Bunta said then, after remaining in silence for a bit, he said, 'alright, I give up: I don't know what else to do: any ideas?'

Seiko laughed at that softly before shaking her head in a very cute way.

'To be honest,' she said, 'I'm alright here, I feel really comfortable when I'm with you,' she added sounding as though as she was surprised by that fact.

'I'm not that scary you know?' Bunta asked her offering what, he hoped, was his best smile.

'You are,' Seiko contradicted him, 'I don't know what but there's something about you…I don't know how to describe it.'

'It doesn't matter,' Bunta said then, seeing that she was smiling reminded him of the very upset expression he'd seen on her face when he'd gone to pick her up and, going against the gut feeling which told him to mind his own business, he said:

'Did anything happen earlier on at your place?'

'It's getting late,' she replied instead consulting her tiny wristwatch, 'we better head back down.'

'Er…' Bunta started.

'Please,' Seiko insisted, 'I can't tell you now but I will soon, okay?'

Bunta thought that it wasn't okay but, for the sake of not arguing with her, he nodded and went to turn the car's engine back on then, they started driving down the road while Bunta tried to explain to his girlfriend about the very basics of drifting when, for the second night in a row, Bunta saw through the rear view mirror a couple of headlights flashing at him.

'It can't be…' he then said.

'What's up?' Seiko asked him.

Instead of replying, Bunta stopped his car and, climbing out of it, he saw the same dark blue Nissan he'd bumped onto just a few hours ago stopping right next to him while its driver started rolling his side's window down then, even before Ken Kogashiwa had the time to start talking, Bunta said:

'Alright, you win.'

'What?' Ken asked.

'I can't race you now,' Bunta explained indicating his car with his head where both he and Ken could see Seiko with her head poking out of the open window, 'but I will,' he added, 'I only have one condition.'

'One condition?' Ken asked him.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'we won't race here: I want to race you in your home course, at Irokazaka or whatever its name is.'

_To be continued…_


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fourteen_

After recovering from the shock of hearing Bunta's proposal, Ken remained silent for a few instants while he pondered it then, very slowly, he nodded and, with an arrogant grin curving his lips, he pushed his glasses up and said:

'You must be feeling suicidal.'

'Why?' Bunta asked him.

'Have you even been to Irohazaka?' Ken asked him back, his smile turning into a sarcastic leer.

'Nope,' Bunta replied honestly.

'I rest my case,' Ken said then, shaking his head a couple of times, he added, 'but hey, it's your choice. If you want to race me there, so be it, all the better for me.'

'So, do we have a race?' Bunta asked him, just to be sure.

'Yes, I'd say we do,' Ken replied and Bunta was about to turn round when he added, 'however, I have a condition too.'

'Let's hear it,' Bunta nodded.

'Since I'm obviously going to win,' Ken said smugly, 'we'll race here in Akina too.'

Bunta raised his eyebrows unable to believe how very confident this guy was about the outcome of the race and, had it been someone else, he would have either started laughing at him or beat the crap out of him but, something about Ken made Bunta think that he had a good reason to be this arrogant.

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'if you win, we'll race here but, what happens if I win?'

'That won't happen,' Ken replied again using an absurd amount of overconfidence. Then, with a short wave of his hand, he went back to his dark blue Nissan, climbed into it and re-started making his way back to the base of the mountain pass.

'What an arrogant pig,' Bunta heard Seiko's angry voice say making him turn round to see that she had got out of the car and was now walking towards him.

'He is, isn't he?' he asked her with an almost amused tone of voice, 'this only makes it better,' he added.

'Better?' Seiko asked him sounding confused.

'I don't get excited about a race unless the opponent is worth beating,' Bunta explained and, for some reason, Seiko started laughing softly at him, 'what's so funny?' he asked.

'You,' she replied with brutal honesty, 'hearing you talk like that makes you sound like you were a seasoned street racer…'

'Right, thanks,' Bunta said frowning and looking at her with such a childish pout that she started laughing again, 'let's take you home.'

That seemed to wipe all hilarity from her but Bunta, who was too busy thinking of the two challenges he had ahead of him, three if Yoshiki decided to show up at Akina, failed to notice that fact.

The following morning, since it was a Sunday, Bunta decided to sleep in as much as he could and, by the time he made it downstairs, he found his uncle preparing lunch for himself.

'Oh, hello there,' the old man said, 'I almost forgot I had my nephew living in here.'

'Sorry, I've been kind of busy and…'

'Forget it,' Eikichi ordered, 'it's a good thing I always cook big portions,' he added pointing at the saucepan where something red-brownish was simmering.

'It's alright,' Bunta said, 'I've got to…'

'You've got to sit down and eat,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I want to discuss a few things with you.'

Bunta flinched hearing that and, knowing better than to piss the older man off, he chose to be smart and do what he was told so, turning slowly, he made his way back to the tiny living room and, sitting by the table, he waited until his uncle came back with a tray carrying their lunch.

'So,' he started once Bunta had helped himself to some of the food, 'I don't know the kind of agreement you had with your parents but…'

'Eikichi,' Bunta said, 'I'm sorry about not being around much and all,' he stopped talking seeing the stern look his uncle was giving him.

'I'm not complaining about that,' Eikichi said, 'didn't I tell you a couple of nights ago not to come home until you had got the basics of the ski drift?'

'Yes, you did,' Bunta replied.

'Then,' Eikichi said, 'you'll understand that I have no problem with you being away from the house for long periods of time. However, I would like to know, if at all possible, where you're going and who with.'

'Alright,' Bunta replied.

'Also,' Eikichi said, 'I know that you're going to start driving in other passes as well as on Akina.'

'How did you…'

'Your boss told me you may be going to Irohazaka,' Eikichi explained making Bunta wish Nitta-san could just mind his own business, 'I don't mind that you do but, be very careful if you race there.'

'Why is everyone telling me that?' Bunta asked him.

'Do you know the five consecutive hairpins from Akina?' Eikichi asked him back then, seeing his nephew nod to that, he added, 'imagine that times ten.'

'Fifty consecutive hairpins?' Bunta asked him widening his eyes as he did so.

'Not quite as many as that but, yes, more or less,' Eikichi replied, sounding happy that the young man had grasped the gravity of the situation, 'you're going to need to work on that car of yours if you want to drive there.'

'Why don't you help me?' Bunta asked him.

'Nope,' Eikichi replied, 'if you want to do it.'

'I've got to do it on my own, I know,' Bunta interrupted him.

'Exactly,' Eikichi said, 'now, let's eat, it's getting cold,' he added pointing at the food with his set of dark chopsticks.

'Er…' Bunta hesitated.

'What is it?' Eikichi asked.

'I've managed to drive down Akina without spilling the water in just about the same time I use to drive without the cup,' Bunta explained.

'That's good,' Eikichi commented, 'now you've got to do the same driving uphill.'

Bunta wanted to hate his uncle but, as usual, he knew that the old man was right so, instead, he chose to start eating in silence while he thought of the new manoeuvres he'd tried while driving up the Akina pass.

A few hours later, Bunta drove his 2000GT all the way to the petrol station the Tachibana family owned and where he found Yuuichi finishing his afternoon shift.

'Hey, stranger,' Bunta said climbing out of his car, 'where have you been?'

'Me?' Yuuichi asked him, 'where have YOU been? I looked for you all over the place last night.'

'I was with Seiko,' Bunta said, 'didn't you go out with Fuka too?'

'Nope,' Yuuichi replied frowning as he did so, 'it's a long story,' he added noticing the inquisitive look he was getting from Bunta.

'Long?' he asked incredulously, 'it's only been forty eight hours, how long can it be?'

Yuuichi stared at him with such a pained expression on his face that it convinced Bunta to stop asking questions, at least for now for he had every intention of finding out what in the heck had happened between his classmate and Seiko's best friend.

'Anyway,' he heard Yuuichi say, 'I heard from Masashi-san that you want to go to Irohazaka.'

'I'm going there tonight,' Bunta replied, 'just to go and check it out.'

'What about Akagi?' Yuuichi asked him, 'you've got a race there in less than a week, you know…'

'I know,' Bunta replied, 'I'll go to Irohazaka first then I'll go to Akagi.'

Yuuichi stared at him again, this time with an expression which was a mix between disbelief and exasperation but, since the young man was beginning to understand how Bunta's mind worked, he decided to let it be and, instead, he said:

'I'll come with you then.'

'Great!' Bunta exclaimed happily, 'I was about to ask you that.'

'Someone needs to keep you out of trouble,' Yuuichi added making Bunta laugh guiltily, 'but I need to ask you a favour first.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked him.

'The Akina Firebolts are gathering tonight,' Yuuichi replied, 'Shinobu-san has accepted someone's challenge and he's going to be racing him. I want us to be there to cheer for him.'

'Okay,' Bunta accepted, 'we can leave to Irohazaka as soon as the race is over.'

'Alright,' Yuuichi said then, as if it were an afterthought, he added, 'Bunta, you do know that's an hour's drive to get to Nikko, don't you?'

Bunta's incredulous expression was enough of an answer and, once again, Yuuichi decided to ignore the whole thing and, without adding anything else, he just walked to his Mazda Capella while Bunta made his way to his car too.

As they had pre-agreed, the two boys ate their dinner at the Tachibana's house with Bunta being painfully reminded of what it was like to have a mother. For this reason alone, he was happy when, at long last, they were allowed to get up from the table so that they could go out.

'Are you alright?' Yuuichi asked him before neither could climb into their rides.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied dismissively, 'let's go or we'll be late.'

Not even twenty minutes later, both Bunta and Yuuichi were parking their cars at the base of Akina's pass where they found quite a few of the Firebolts already organising themselves for this improvised race.

'Hi guys,' Masashi said seeing the two younger men walking towards them.

'What's going on?' Bunta asked him making a gesture with his hand to indicate all the people who seemed to be rushing all over the place.

'We didn't have much of a warning,' Masashi explained, 'and now we've got to get ready before they…'

He didn't even complete the sentence for, right at that instant, a group of six cars came driving down the road, lead by a red Subaru Leone 1600 GL.

'They're already here!' one of the Firebolts shouted and that only made everyone run towards where their leader, Shinobu Aihara, had parked his white Toyota Celica GT.

Bunta and Yuuichi observed from their position behind a guardrail as the two cars rolled to the starting point of the race: a sector where, instead of two lanes, there were three and where there was a lot more space for everyone to leave their cars parked safely.

The race itself wouldn't be too unfair, he thought, considering that both cars were powered by 1600cc engines and that, despite of the fact that the Leone had an FF layout while the Celica had an FR one, the cars were pretty much balanced when it came to their power.

'Where are these guys coming from?' Bunta whispered to an awed looking Yuuichi.

'What?'

'I asked you where they're from,' Bunta repeated, repressing a chuckle.

'They're from Myogi,' Yuuichi replied and, before Bunta could ask, he explained, 'it's another mountain pass not far from here.'

'How many freaking passes do you guys have in here?'

Yuuichi laughed at his friend's disbelieving expression then, noticing the resolute expression which had now appeared on Bunta's face, he stopped laughing altogether.

'Oh no…'

'Oh yes,' Bunta said, 'I want to go there too.'

'Not tonight, I hope,' Yuuichi tried.

'No, not tonight,' was Bunta's highly reassuring reply, 'maybe tomorrow.'

Yuuichi did a double take before realising that his schoolmate was, as usual, making fun of him then, bowing his head in defeat, he shook it briefly before returning his attention back to watch the pre-race proceedings.

A few minutes later, Bunta and Yuuichi saw as Shinobu-san and the guy driving the red Subaru shook hands after introducing themselves then, with both of them getting a few encouraging words from their team mates, they climbed back into their cars.

Masashi, acting as the countdown man, shouted the 'go' and, after that, both Subaru and Toyota took off, with the Celica getting ahead fairly quickly.

'He's great!' Yuuichi exclaimed bobbing up and down with the excitement of a five year old.

'I don't know,' an unusually serious Bunta said.

'What don't you know?' Masashi asked him.

'Didn't you see it?' Bunta asked him back.

'See what?' a sobered up Yuuichi said.

'I think the Subaru wasn't even trying,' Bunta explained then, before neither Yuuichi or Masashi could protest, he pointed at the five guys who had arrived with the Subaru's driver and said, 'they don't look worried.'

'So?' Yuuichi asked.

'So,' Bunta replied, 'I think that Shinobu-san should be very careful.'

'Hey,' Masashi complained, 'Shinobu-san's the best driver we've got and he knows this course better than anyone else…'

'I don't think so,' Bunta interrupted him.

'Bunta, he knows it better than you do,' Yuuichi countered.

'I wasn't thinking of me,' Bunta said, 'I'm talking about my uncle.'

'Ah, well…' Masashi started, 'you're right, your uncle probably knows this course better than anyone here do. In any case, I know that Shinobu's not going to underestimate that guy so, don't worry.'

Bunta just looked at him while, a bit further up the road, the Akina Firebolts' leader had just started to find quite a few reasons to feel concerned about the battle. To begin with, he too had the impression that the Subaru driver wasn't even pushing it all that much while Shinobu had quite a lot of trouble staying ahead.

'What's with this guy…' he muttered to himself feeling more and more worried.

They had just finished clearing the five consecutive hairpins when Shinobu realised that the headlights of the Subaru had disappeared from his car's rear view mirror. He fought the instinct which wanted him to turn round in the car to try and find him and, instead, he just kept driving forward.

Because of this, Shinobu never saw as the red Subaru, after its driver pressed the accelerator as far as it went, first lined his car with the Celica then crossed it right in front of the Toyota, forcing Shinobu to slow down so that he wouldn't crash against the Subaru.

'Fuck,' Shinobu whispered, he couldn't get beaten here!

Before his opponent could begin pulling away and using a high speed right hander, the Akina Firebolts' leader entered the corner at kamikaze-like speed, covering the inside of the corner, hoping that his Celica could make it around the turn without crashing.

Meanwhile, the Subaru, seeing that he'd just had cut the quickest way, let the car's rear tyres slide outwards so that he could then press the accelerator using the inertia to clear the corner just before Shinobu. Unfortunately, he failed to notice that, right at the outside of the corner, there was quite a lot of gravel which had accumulated during the latest rainstorm so common of the month of August.

'Oh crap!' Shinobu exclaimed seeing the way the red Subaru had lost it.

Pressing the brake pedal of his Celica, he also veered towards the guardrail trying to make as much room as possible for the Subaru's driver to get his ride back under his control, seeing it spin out just a few centimetres away from the Toyota's front bumper.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Shinobu climbed out of the car and made his way to the Subaru, feeling relieved that neither of the two cars had suffered any damage.

'Are you alright?'

'Yeah,' the Subaru driver replied.

'What do you want to do?' Shinobu asked, 'shall we continue?'

'Yeah,' the other guy said, 'I'll have to let you lead though.'

Shinobu nodded and, walking back to his car, he climbed back into it then, entering the first gear and releasing the emergency brake, he started driving forward once again, seeing that the Subaru started following him only once he'd gone past.

The Subaru didn't try anymore attacks in what was left of the race and Shinobu was about to allow himself to think he'd won the race when, just after having cleared the last corner of the course, the one that led to the straight with the two guardrails which delimited the two resting areas, he noticed that the Subaru's headlights had disappeared again.

'What?' Shinobu asked to no one in particular. Was this guy for real?

Pressing the Celica's accelerator even more, he saw that the Subaru was lining up with his car again and, after a few painfully long instants, Shinobu crossed the finish line without knowing who'd done it first. With that excruciating doubt, he climbed out of the car and, spotting one of his guys, he asked:

'Who's won?'

Everyone remained quiet for a short while they stared at the Subaru's driver who had just got out of his ride then, Shinobu started turning towards him to go and congratulate him when, the explosion of happiness from his team mates and friends made him realise that, somehow, he'd won the race.

'Congrats man,' the Subaru driver said, 'that was a great race.'

'Thanks,' a startled Shinobu replied.

A few kilometres down the road, Bunta and Yuuichi had to wait for a full ten minutes before the news of Shinobu's victory reached them then, instead of staying there to celebrate, Bunta literally dragged Yuuichi back to their cars.

'Come on man,' Yuuichi complained, 'Shinobu-san's won this race! I want to…'

'Fine,' Bunta said, 'if you don't want to come with me, I'll go alone.'

'What?' Yuuichi said, 'you can't do that!' he protested.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'you don't have to come with me, if you want to stay and celebrate with your friends, feel free.'

'No, no,' Yuuichi hurried to say then, giving him a small smile, he added, 'besides, you don't even know where you're going.'

'Good point,' Bunta admitted then, returning the grin, he said, 'so, shall we go?'

'Sure,' Yuuichi said and, with that, he went to open the driver side's door of his beautiful Mazda Capella while Bunta did the same with his even better looking Toyota 2000GT.

With the confusion of the celebrations, no one noticed that the two young men were leaving the place and, just about an hour later, Bunta and Yuuichi made it to the base of the Irohazaka twin roads which made the city of Nikko, in the Tochigi prefecture, a very popular place for street racers to meet.

They parked their cars at a nearby car park and Bunta made his way to the edge of the road so that he could see it better.

'Having second thoughts?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Absolutely not,' Bunta replied, 'I just wish I didn't have to race in Akagi now.'

'Why is that?' Yuuichi asked sounding rather puzzled.

'Because I can't wait to drive in here!' Bunta exclaimed happily making Yuuichi shake his head in disbelief for the umpteenth time that night.

_To be continued…_


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifteen_

When six days later Bunta and Yuuichi drove the girls to Akagi, followed by a handful of members of the Akina Firebolts who, considering Bunta as one of their local boys, had insisted on coming so that they could show their support to him, the teenager found it very hard to focus on the race as much as he knew he ought to.

'Are you alright?' he heard his girlfriend Seiko ask from the passenger seat of the 2000GT.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'just thinking…'

'You're not nervous about the race, are you?' she asked him worriedly.

'No, of course not,' Bunta replied almost arrogantly, 'it'll be a piece of cake.'

He was grateful Seiko chose to believe him for, in reality, he didn't want to tell her, nor anyone else for that matter, that except for a couple of hours on Monday night, he hadn't been to Akagi at all, instead, he had travelled to Irohazaka every single evening, driving up and down that course until he barely had enough petrol to make it back to Shibukawa.

Bunta loved that road and he liked it even more after he'd discovered a whole new way of clearing the extremely sharp corners which characterised the course. It had happened, like with most crucial discoveries of mankind, in a completely casual way:

Going downhill, he was about to tackle one of the last hairpins when, maybe because he had been really tired at the time, or maybe because he'd lost control of the car because of the high speed he was pushing it to, he went flat out across the corner, literally jumping from the entry of the turn all the way to its exit.

For the tinniest of instants, while he and his car were flying over the road, he had freaked out quite a lot but then, realising that he could probably make the Toyota land safely back onto the tarmac, he decided to try and see if he could do it again.

He could and he did. And it was the best sensation of the world!

'Hey, are you listening to me?' Seiko said all of a sudden.

'What?' Bunta asked her.

'I was…' she re-started then, letting out a frustrated sigh, she said, 'forget it, it wasn't important.'

'No, no,' Bunta hurried to say, 'I'm sorry, I was distracted thinking of the race,' he said and, technically speaking, it wasn't a lie.

'Don't worry,' she insisted, 'like I said, it wasn't important, besides, I know that you guys need to concentrate a great deal before the races.'

Bunta laughed at that and said:

'Now you're making me sound like if I were a seasoned street racer.'

'You'll become one soon,' she said melancholically putting her hand onto his left arm, sending some sort of electrical shock through it which made him fail to notice the sad look on her eyes. Did she even know what he wanted to do to her every time she touched him?

Probably not, Bunta sentenced.

That made him remember about the conversation he'd had with Yuuichi three days ago, about the fact that he'd messed up with Fuka, misinterpreting the signs she'd given him and trying to take her to a love hotel.

'What's so funny?' Seiko asked him hearing the badly stifled chuckle.

'Nothing,' he said, 'it's a good thing Fuka and Yuuichi made peace,' he explained, 'it would have been weird otherwise…'

'Yes, I agree,' Seiko said then, she gasped and added, 'wow! Have you seen how many people are here?'

Bunta looked out of his window and he saw that, indeed, lining up behind the guardrails, there were an abnormally large amount of people. This was very odd, considering that street racing was illegal and that the racers rarely publicised their challenges all that much since no one wanted the police to burst in and ruin everything.

'Oh well,' Bunta said shrugging his shoulders a bit, 'I don't really care about how much public we have…'

Seiko laughed softly at that.

'By the way,' he added, 'you look very nice tonight.'

'This?' Seiko asked pointing at her blue summer dress, 'it's ancient! It's just that it's so hot tonight.'

'It is,' he agreed, not wanting to let her know that that dress was only making him feel even warmer.

Fifteen minutes later, Bunta was almost thankful that he could get out of the car so that he wouldn't be forced to stare at the beautiful set of legs his girlfriend had and, instead, he started searching for the two black Mitsubishi he was supposed to race.

'Oh, finally,' he heard Ken Kogashiwa's annoying voice say.

Turning round slowly, he saw the guy's dark blue Nissan Skyline parked not too far from the starting line and, leaning onto its bodywork's side, Bunta found its owner.

'Are you stalking me or what?' Bunta asked him with a sarcastic smirk.

'No,' Ken replied and he was going to add something else, probably something equally offending, when Makoto Watanabe finally showed up, surprisingly enough, on his own.

'Any problems?' the guy asked, looking at both Bunta and Ken alternatively.

'No,' Bunta replied then, doing his best to ignore Ken, he asked, 'where's your friend?'

'He's there,' Makoto replied pointing at him with his thumb.

'Isn't he going to race?' Bunta asked him.

'No,' Makoto replied, 'since my car is still at the repairs shop, he has decided to lend me his so that at least I can race you.'

'Really?' Bunta asked, 'why didn't you say so? I can wait till you get your car back so you two can race me.'

'Why?' Makoto said using a very harsh tone of voice, 'am I not enough of a rival by myself?'

'What's up?' Shinobu asked while he, Yuuichi and Masashi joined Bunta after having parked their cars somewhere nearby.

'Nothing,' Bunta replied.

'Alright then,' Shinobu said then, glancing at Makoto, he added, 'do you need a hand organising the race?'

'No, thanks,' Makoto replied, 'my guys have got this covered,' he explained indicating with his head a few people who were already driving down the road, probably to position themselves in strategic points of the course.

'Alright,' Shinobu said, 'now,' he added looking at Bunta, 'you go and get ready for the race.'

Bunta looked at Shinobu as though as he wanted to tell him not to order him around then, deciding that he had already pissed off quite a few people, he chose to remain silent and follow his girlfriend back to his Toyota.

'What are you going to do?' Bunta asked Seiko.

'We'll just stay around here, won't we?' Seiko asked looking at Fuka.

'Sure,' Fuka replied.

'Great,' Bunta nodded then, after seeing the two girls walking away from them, he turned back to face Makoto and said, 'alright, I'm ready when you are.'

'I'll go and get my car, I take we're going downhill,' he said and, since they were indeed at the top of the mountain, it seemed like the most logical thing to do.

'Of course,' Bunta replied.

Makoto nodded to that and, after that, he walked back to where his small group of friends where making Bunta notice, for the first time, that there weren't as many people there to watch the start of the race as there were at the car park at the bottom of the pass where he'd seen a large group of people, probably locals, getting ready to celebrate Makoto Watanabe's sure victory.

'Hey,' Shinobu said putting a hand onto Bunta's shoulder, 'I know you've already beaten him but…'

'I know, I know,' Bunta interrupted him, 'this is his home course and he knows it better.'

'Precisely,' Masashi said, 'be careful, okay?'

'He'll be fine,' Yuuichi countered, 'he's been practicing here every night,' he added and, all of a sudden, Bunta seemed to be highly interested in the way his shoe laces were done.

'I'll better get the car ready,' he said.

Climbing into the Toyota 2000GT, Bunta started getting a bit worried about how lightly he'd taken this whole race and now, probably too late to do so, he was beginning to realise that he should have focused on this battle, rather than concentrating on the one he had scheduled for the following weekend.

Even more so considering that Ken Kogashiwa was there, ready to laugh at him in case he lost this race…

God, how much he was beginning to hate that guy, Bunta thought as he made his car roll all the way to where Makoto had already parked his GTO. There, getting back out of his car, Bunta asked, 'any special rules?'

'Nope,' Makoto said, 'just the usual one: whoever gets down to the base first, wins.'

'Easy enough,' Bunta laughed, 'I'll see you there, do want me to get a drink for you while I wait?' he asked arrogantly making Makoto smirk sardonically.

'Typical of Bunta,' an amused Yuuichi whispered to Masashi.

'I've never met anyone as cocky as he is,' Shinobu commented, 'and I've met quite a few arrogant guys in my life.'

Yuuichi stared at the Akina Firebolts' leader for an instant, contemplating whether he should defend his friend or not but then, seeing the expression of admiration on the older guy's face made him change his mind.

'Where are the girls?' he asked instead, noticing that neither Fuka nor Seiko were around.

'I don't know,' Masashi replied, 'geez Yuuichi, you've had a girlfriend for less than a week and you've already lost her?' he teased him.

'Ha, ha, very funny,' Yuuichi commented humourlessly, 'I'll go and look for them, I don't want them to miss the start of the race.'

He got a nod from both older guys and then he started looking around the place trying to see if he spotted them. Not being able to see them, Yuuichi walked down the road's side where a few cars were parked and, was about to walk past a white van when he heard Fuka's voice saying:

'…you need to tell him…'

'No!' he heard Seiko exclaim, 'he doesn't need to know yet.'

Yuuichi remained frozen where he was, fighting with himself as he tried very hard to decide whether he should intervene then, realising that if Fuka thought that he had been eavesdropping she would probably get mad at him again, he decided to start walking away and pretend that he hadn't heard anything.

'Yuuichi?' he heard his girlfriend's voice say before he had even had the time to lift his foot off the ground.

He turned round and, with a sheepish smile, he waved and said:

'Hi!'

Fuka tilted her head and gave him an odd look then, shaking it a couple of times, she glanced at Seiko before turning her gaze back to her boyfriend.

'The race's about to start, isn't it?' she asked him.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi managed to reply.

'Let's go then,' Fuka replied and, taking Seiko by her hand, the two girls walked ahead of Yuuichi forcing the poor guy to start running after them.

The three of them made it just in time to see both Bunta and Makoto taking off.

'What the…' Yuuichi muttered seeing what, up to then, he had never seen before: his friend Bunta seemed to be in trouble.

'I told him to be careful,' Masashi commented, earning himself a couple of glares from the two girls present there.

'He'll be fine,' Yuuichi insisted, 'won't he?' he asked then looking at Shinobu.

'I'm not sure,' Shinobu replied, 'that guy knows what he's doing,' he commented pointing at the black Mitsubishi right after he disappeared around a corner, with Bunta doing his best to keep up with him.

'Crap!' Bunta exclaimed, imagining the sarcastic sneer which had probably appeared on Ken Kogashiwa's face seeing him lose so badly at the start of the race then, taking a calming breath, he forced himself to remember that it was just that: the start. He still had plenty of room to find a spot where he would overtake the Mitsubishi…

Bunta followed the GTO down the gentle slope which led to the much steeper sector of the pass, admiring the way Makoto cleared every single one of the corners. If anything, Bunta had to give in to the fact that the Mitsubishi driver seemed to know this road like the back of his hand.

'I can still win,' Bunta muttered, more to convince himself than for any other reason.

He then decided to test his theory and, using what probably was one of the last straight sections of the road, he pressed the rear bumper of his car to the back one of the GTO then, just before the first of the sharp left-handers, Bunta tried to push his car into the gap left by the Mitsubishi.

To no avail.

Makoto closed the space so quickly that Bunta was forced to slam the brake pedal.

'Shit…' Bunta breathed.

From then, Makoto became even more defensive, not giving him a single chance to get anywhere near his car making Bunta wonder if there was something wrong with his car…where had all the power gone?

The 2000GT's engine was supposed to be a lot more powerful than that of the GTO, yet again, it seemed to Bunta that the Mitsubishi was pulling away from him at the exit of the corners and, as usual, Makoto wasn't even drifting.

What the heck was going on? Bunta thought in desperation.

Meanwhile, up at the summit, everyone waited patiently to hear the latest reports from the several officials the guys from Akagi had when, out of the blue, Fuka turned to Yuuichi and said:

'Can I have a word?'

'S-sure…' Yuuichi stuttered then, both of them walked away from their friends, far enough to be out of hearing range, 'what's up?' he asked her there.

'How much did you hear?' she asked him back.

'What?'

'Yuuichi, I know that you overheard mine and Seiko's conversation, I just want to know how much of it did you actually hear.'

'Ah, that,' Yuuichi replied, 'not much really.'

'How much?' she insisted, making it sound as though as if it were a matter of national security. Because of this, Yuuichi decided to tell her the exact words he'd heard.

'That's all,' he promised, fighting the urge to ask her to give him more details.

'Alright,' Fuka said, 'well, forget about that, okay?'

'Fuka,' Yuuichi started, 'what's going on?'

'Nothing,' Fuka hurried to reply, 'just forget it, okay?'

Yuuichi stared at her and then, before he had the time to formulate yet another question, the girl turned round and started making her way back to where their friends were, leaving him with no other option but to follow her.

There, they found out that they had just got word from the mid-point that Bunta was still lagging behind the GTO and that, for some reason, none of the attempts he had made at overtaking Makoto had worked so far.

'What do you think it's happening?' Yuuichi asked to Shinobu.

'No idea,' the Akina Firebolts replied.

Down the road, Bunta was trying to come up with an answer to Yuuichi's question, he'd tried everything: taking the inside line, the outside one…he'd even tried to emulate the gutter run here in the much less deep drains this road had.

Makoto had, so far, rejected every single one of his attacks.

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'enough with this non-sense.'

No one was perfect and, even though he knew that Makoto probably outclassed him when it came to the knowledge of this course, Bunta had already beaten him once and he knew that he could do it again.

Even here in Akagi.

Tightening his grasp on the steering wheel of his Toyota, Bunta started feeling the resolve he needed coming back to him and, allowing himself a small smile, he moved his hand to the shifter and, talking to the car, he said:

'Let's do this…'

Remembering their previous race under the rain, Bunta thought of the time when Makoto had crashed his car against the wall and, unless he was very much mistaken, Bunta thought that the accident had been due probably more to the pressure than to the wet conditions of the road.

Pressure.

He needed to press Makoto into making some sort of mistake for it was the only viable way Bunta saw himself winning this race. The problem was that, so far, Makoto had resisted every single one of Bunta's attacks without showing any trace of anxiety.

'Of course,' Bunta whispered to himself.

Maybe Makoto wasn't reacting to any of his attacks but, what would happen if he stopped attacking altogether?

He decided to find out: sticking his car's front to the back of the Mitsubishi, Bunta chose to stay like that for what was left of the race, just following the GTO around the corners, not even trying to overtake him once when Makoto, probably starting to feel very confused, had not closed the gap properly.

'It's working!' Bunta exclaimed happily.

With only a handful of turns left till the end of the race, he started breathing very deeply while he waited for the right moment to detach himself from the GTO's rear bumper.

The chance presented itself at the very last corner of the course when, yet again, Makoto forgot to close the space between his car and the guardrail as he entered the turn, leaving enough of a gap for Bunta to stick his car's front in it.

It was now or never, he thought throwing caution out of the window as he floored the accelerator all the way down while Makoto, taken entirely by surprise, managed just about to stay on the right line of the course.

The two cars exited the right-hander side by side but Bunta kept his smile on his face for, he knew that he'd done it.

Using his car's more powerful engine, Bunta managed to cross the finish line with about half a length of advantage and, only while he slowed down, he let out a sigh of relief.

It had been way too close, he decided while he fumbled with the seatbelt's clasp, trying to undo it despite the fact that both of his hands were shaking very badly.

'I can't believe you've beaten me,' Makoto said as soon as Bunta managed to get out of his car.

'Neither can I,' Bunta replied honestly, 'how long have you been driving in here?'

'Quite a few years,' Makoto replied, 'why?'

'It shows,' Bunta replied and, for anyone who knew him that was probably the most he'd ever praised anyone then, doing something which freaked Makoto out, he bowed and said, 'thank you.'

'What for?' a very confused Makoto asked.

'For the race,' Bunta replied not wanting to tell him the truth for, in reality, that night he'd learned two very important lessons: one, never to underestimate an opponent, no matter how weak or easy they seemed to be. Two, having a really good knowledge of the course gave you half of the victory if not more.

For this reason alone, he decided to first become the master of Mt Akina then, he'd conquer the rest of the region's passes and, after that…

'Let's start with Akina,' Bunta muttered to himself as he made his way back to his car, making Makoto feel even more worried about the younger guy's mental health.

_To be continued…_


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixteen_

Bunta drove the short distance which separated Seiko's home from the tofu shop feeling very content with the way things were going in his life: he had a good looking girlfriend, great mates and, out of the four battles he'd raced so far, he'd won all of them.

'We're a good team, huh?' he said to his 2000GT patting its steering wheel affectionately.

Smiling to himself, Bunta parked his car near that of his uncle Eikichi and, climbing out of it, he locked it up and spent a few minutes staring at it while remembering all the modifications he wanted to do as soon as he got his wages.

As it was to be expected at this time of the night, Bunta found his uncle working at the shop, preparing the morning's delivery.

'Hello there,' Bunta said cheerfully walking past him.

'I take you won,' Eikichi replied without lifting his eyes from the tofu he was cutting and using such a flat tone of voice that it made Bunta stop a couple of steps away from the door which connected the shop to the living quarters.

'Of course I did,' Bunta confirmed turning round slowly to face the older man, 'were you expecting a defeat?' he challenged him with a smirk appearing on his face.

'Not expecting it,' Eikichi said deciding to stop working so that he too could look at his nephew, 'I was more hoping you'd lose…'

Bunta did a double take and frowned while thinking that he had probably heard the whole thing wrong. There was no way his uncle had just said something like that…

'It's not a good thing that you keep winning,' Eikichi continued.

'Why not?' Bunta finally spat, 'what's wrong with winning?' he then asked.

'Nothing,' Eikichi replied then, leaning against his worktop, he crossed his arms onto his chest and, taking a deep breath, almost as if he were preparing himself for some very difficult speech, he said, 'the problem is that you, Bunta, are a rookie…'

'So what?' Bunta interrupted him.

'…and rookies are not supposed to win all the time,' Eikichi continued, as though as he hadn't been interrupted, 'which makes me think that maybe you're not picking your opponents well enough.'

Bunta could not believe what he was hearing. What in the heck was his uncle talking about?

'Look,' he started, 'if you can't be happy for me, then I don't want to be having this conversation.'

With that, and before Eikichi could add anything else, Bunta turned round once more towards the door and started running towards his room, locking the door up and throwing himself onto the bed, still fully clothed.

He didn't know what hurt him more: the fact that Eikichi never seemed to be impressed about his racing activities or that, despite trying to deny it with all his being, Bunta was actually hoping that the older man would come up to his room to talk to him.

Of course, that didn't happen and, when a few hours later he heard the Bellett's engine being turned on, he realised that, once again, he hadn't gone with his uncle for the tofu delivery. Thinking about it, he hadn't been anywhere near the Isuzu for a whole week…

'Fuck it,' Bunta muttered to himself as he stubbornly kept his eyes shut so that he could fall asleep.

The morning after, he woke up to an empty house and was about to start wondering where in the heck had his uncle gone to when he saw a message from him scrawled on a small piece of paper telling him that he would spend most of the day away from the shop.

As if I care, Bunta thought to himself bitterly while he got ready to go to his part time job where, as usual, he found Masashi about to start his own shift.

'Hey,' the slightly older guy said seeing him entering the repairs shop, 'that was some cool racing last night.'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied using a non-committal tone of voice, wondering why was it that his uncle could not bring himself to say something like that.

'Anyway,' Masashi said, 'since it's Sunday and we don't have much work to do, the boss told me that as soon as we finish our chores, I can use the time to teach you a few more things, if you want, of course.'

'Sure,' Bunta replied, 'I'm all ears,' he added, feeling finally happy that he could occupy his mind with something other than his uncle's less than enthusiastic reactions. He then followed Masashi inside the shop and, after they had gone through their to-do list, they started working on an old engine, with Masashi explaining to Bunta all about the different parts and what one could do in order to improve the performance of the whole thing.

'Masashi-senpai…' Bunta started but stopped speaking seeing the look his workmate was giving him, 'what?' he asked him.

'Nothing,' Masashi replied, 'it's just that it's weird hearing you refer to me as your 'senpai', that's all.'

'Ah, sorry,' Bunta said, 'but you are my senpai.'

'I know,' Masashi replied, 'it still sounds rather odd coming from you. Anyway, what did you want to tell me?'

'I just wanted to ask you if you could give me a hand with the suspensions of my car,' Bunta replied, speaking rather fast for it was a tad embarrassing asking Masashi for help.

'Sure,' the older guy said, 'is there anything wrong with them?'

'Not really,' Bunta replied, 'it's just that I'll need to adjust them for the next race.'

Masashi stared at him for a short while before putting down the small spanner he had in his hand then, getting serious all of a sudden, he said:

'You really are going to race that guy at Irohazaka, aren't you?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied then, seeing Masashi's worried frown, he added, 'why are you asking? Do you think I shouldn't do it?'

'No, no,' Masashi hurried to say, 'I think it's a great idea that you want to race in other passes, especially after what you did last night at Akagi.'

'But?'

'Nothing,' Masashi replied shaking his head, 'forget about it.'

Bunta stared at his workmate for a while trying to decide if he wanted to pursue the argument but, realising that it would probably be a waste of time, he chose to remain silent and soon enough, both he and Masashi busied themselves re-adjusting the 2000GT's suspensions.

A few hours later, and as they had agreed the previous night, Bunta met with Yuuichi just outside Shibukawa's main shopping centre where they would wait for their girlfriends so that the four of them could go for lunch together and, hopefully, a romantic drive up Mt Akina.

'Hi champ,' Yuuichi greeted him.

'Where did you go last night?' Bunta teased him back, 'you and Fuka disappeared so suddenly.'

A very flustered Yuuichi was about to try and reply when he was literally saved by the arrival of both Fuka and Seiko who, for some reason, looked a lot more serious than what was normal.

'You're alright?' Bunta asked her after offering her his arm.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' she replied not too convincingly then, smiling at him, she added, 'so, that guy we met up at Mt Akina is next, isn't he?'

'You mean the one from Irohazaka?' Yuuichi asked her just as the four young people started making their way to one of the restaurants the shopping centre had then, glancing at Bunta, he added, 'you know, at first I wasn't too keen on the idea but…'

'After what you did last night,' Fuka interrupted him looking at Bunta, 'we think you can actually win this race too.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said, 'I think,' he added smirking at her.

Fifteen minutes after that, the four of them chose a new restaurant some fast food chain had just opened and, once they had decided what to eat, the two couples sat down at a table near the exit and started chatting.

'…so, what do you think?' Bunta asked to his girlfriend who, for a moment there, seemed like her mind was miles away from there.

'Er…' she started.

'Of course we'd love to,' Fuka replied for her, 'we've been talking about going to the beach for ages, haven't we?' she asked to Seiko looking at her intently.

'S-sure,' she agreed, 'when do you want to go?'

'I was thinking of next weekend,' Bunta, oblivious to the whole exchange, said, 'after this weekend's race I should have Sunday off. What about you?' he then asked to Yuuichi.

'I can ask for a day off to my father,' he replied stealing a quick, worried look with Fuka who, in return, asked him silently to let it be. Closing his eyes, he took a short but deep breath and, before re-opening his eyes, he made himself a mental note to figure out what in the heck was wrong with Seiko.

They then spent the rest of the meal discussing the upcoming trip's details, including what, according to Fuka, were 'crucial matters' like who was going to prepare the food and whether or not they needed new bathing suits.

'Crap!' Bunta exclaimed, 'I think I'm going to need one, I haven't been to the seaside in ages.'

'Why not?' Fuka asked him, 'didn't you used to live in Tokyo?' she asked him sounding surprised.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'but my parents weren't big fans of going to the beach.'

'Ah, I see,' Fuka replied biting her lower lip and looking at her boyfriend guiltily. This time, it was Yuuichi's turn to shake his head and tell her silently to forget about it.

'Shall we go?' he asked in order to break the uncomfortable silence which had fallen upon them.

'Sure,' Seiko replied taking Bunta's hand in hers, forcing him to get up too, 'I want you to do what I saw you doing last night!' she ordered him as they left the restaurant.

'Are you sure?' Bunta challenged her and, in all answer, Seiko just laughed at him making Yuuichi think that, after watching the entire scene, he could not help but to feel even more confused than he'd done up to that moment.

Meanwhile this happened, Bunta's manager, Shinichiro Nitta, parked his car outside the Fujiwara Tofu Shop gathering the courage he needed with each step he took closer to the place where his late best friend had lived for most of his childhood.

'Nitta,' he heard a very familiar sounding voice say, 'what are you doing in here?'

Turning round, he saw Eikichi Fujiwara walking from the small driveway where he always left his Bellett with a piece of cloth he'd been using to dry the car, making him realise that the older man had just been washing it.

'Er…' Shinichiro started, 'is it a bad time?'

'It depends,' Eikichi replied very frankly.

'I'd like to talk to you about Bunta,' Shinichiro admitted, 'I'm a bit worried about your nephew.'

'Why is that?' Eikichi asked him, still not betraying any kind of emotion which, by the way, was making Shinichiro feel even more nervous.

'Er…' he hesitated, 'I know this is probably none of my business but…' he stopped speaking realising that he had started very badly so, taking another deep breath, he tried again, 'look, I don't mind teaching him about mechanics and all but…'

'You think I should be the one doing it, don't you?' Eikichi interrupted him.

'Well, yes,' Shinichiro replied, 'I just think that…'

'You're the mechanic,' Eikichi cut him once again, 'I'm just a tofu maker,' he added with a sarcastic smirk.

'Fujiwara-san, come on…'

'Listen,' Eikichi said, 'I've already had this conversation with my nephew: he'll have to do everything by himself until the day I see he's learned enough for me to step in.'

'When will that be?' Shinichiro asked him.

'From what I saw last night,' Eikichi replied, 'that day is still very far away.'

'Isn't that a bit harsh?' Shinichiro dared to say, 'the kid's good and…'

'The kid needs to be brought down a peg or two,' Eikichi said, 'and to do that, he needs to start losing races.'

'What?' Shinichiro exclaimed, 'you want him to LOSE?'

'Yes,' Eikichi replied firmly, 'unless he experiences the humiliation of defeat first hand, there's nothing I can teach him.'

Shinichiro stared at him looking agape and, before he could figure out what to say next, he saw as the older man made his way into his shop, closing the door behind him. That gesture alone was a clear enough sign that Eikichi Fujiwara considered their conversation finished.

'What a guy,' he muttered to himself while he walked back to his car.

That same evening and after another successful date, Yuuichi was driving back home after having left Fuka at her place when, not really knowing the reason behind it, he found himself in the road which led to Seiko's house.

Yuuichi had just finished parking his Capella when he saw a pig-tailed girl walking back from the convenience store, at least judging by the plastic bag she was carrying.

'Oh, the loser's friend,' she said.

'Good evening to you too, Kumiko-chan,' Yuuichi replied with a bit more than a hint of sarcasm.

'What are you doing here?' the girl asked, seemingly unfazed.

'Er…,' Yuuichi started, wondering how come Seiko's little sister always managed to make everyone feel like they had to justify themselves, 'I need to speak to your sister.'

'Do you, now?' Kumiko asked him, raising her eyebrows in an absurdly patronising way then, frowning them, she shook her head and, almost as if she were talking to herself, she said, 'she's such a stupid girl.'

'Hey,' Yuuichi protested, 'you should show more respect for your older sister.'

'Why?' Kumiko challenged him, 'if you only knew,' she added and, with that, she started turning around so that she could head back to her house.

'Hold on one second,' Yuuichi said talking to her back, 'what is it that I'm supposed to know?' he asked her, raising his voice just a notch. This worked for, very slowly, Kumiko turned back to face him and, with a very worried looking face, she took a deep breath and said:

'I shouldn't be the one telling you.'

'Telling me what?' Yuuichi asked, barely able to keep the strain out of his voice.

'Listen, if my sister finds out I've told you, she'll kill me.'

Yuuichi started getting rather frightened, what could be so bad as to provoke terror in this apparently fearless creature?

'Is there anything wrong with your sister?' he managed to ask.

'Everything,' was her even more shocking reply, 'I don't know why she's done what she's done. She knew she couldn't do it.'

'Okay, enough is enough,' Yuuichi said firmly, 'I want to know what's going on.'

'My sister's engaged to be married,' Kumiko finally burst out. To that confession, several minutes of complete silence followed until, finding the strength from goodness knew here, Yuuichi managed to stutter:

'W-what?'

'You heard me,' Kumiko replied, 'she's been engaged for almost a year now and she'll get married as soon as she turns twenty.'

'B-but…'

'I can't believe she even thought she could get away with this,' she continued, looking supremely ashamed on behalf of her sister.

'B-but…' Yuuichi repeated.

'Look,' Kumiko interrupted him, 'I've got to go now, I said I'd be out for less than ten minutes and things are bad enough as they are at home.'

Not even giving him the chance to complain or to try to convince her to tell him more details, the fifteen year old girl rushed towards the entrance of her family's house, leaving an utterly startled Yuuichi behind.

'Oh my gosh…' he muttered to himself as very slowly, his brain started registering what had just happened. If Bunta ever found out about this… 'idiot, of course he'll find out,' he admonished himself, 'oh crap…'

Somehow, getting back home was a lot more difficult than usual for poor Yuuichi as he tried to fill in the numerous gaps Kumiko's shocking revelation had, liking each scenario even less than the previous one. He needed to warn Bunta, that was for sure but, the question was: how?

The following Saturday, the same day when Bunta was supposed to travel all the way to Irohazaka for his race against Ken Kogashiwa, poor Yuuichi still hadn't come up with a way of telling Bunta about what he'd found out almost a week before.

'Hey,' he heard Bunta complain, 'are you with us?'

'Eh?' Yuuichi asked and, looking up from his coffee, he found Masashi, Shinobu and Bunta staring at him with identical frowns on their faces.

'We were discussing the travel arrangements,' Masashi supplied.

'Travel arrangements?' Yuuichi asked, still feeling too confused for his brain to work properly.

'For the race?' Bunta said sarcastically, 'remember, the one I've got planned for tonight?'

Yuuichi looked at his friends and, after making a huge effort, he forced himself to focus on their conversation.

'Er…so, what's the plan?' he asked them.

'That's what we're trying to decide,' an amused looking Shinobu said, 'it's pretty far away so I don't think we should take all of our cars. Petrol isn't that cheap nowadays.'

'I should know,' Yuuichi said, finally coming up with something coherent.

'Yeah,' Masashi agreed, 'your old man should give us a discount!'

'Hey,' Yuuichi protested, 'he makes ME pay for the petrol my car uses.'

The three young men started laughing at that and, seeing Bunta looking so carefree made Yuuichi want to shut up and pretend that he hadn't found out anything about Seiko's engagement. Even more so after the conversation he and Bunta had on their way to the Toyota 2000GT:

'You know,' he said, 'I'm really looking forward to taking Seiko to the beach.'

'Er…Bunta…' Yuuichi started.

'I can't wait to see her in a bikini!' Bunta exclaimed happily then, getting serious again, he shook his head and said, 'not good, I need to focus on the race.'

'Bunta, I…' Yuuichi started again.

'Anyway,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I've got to go and pick Seiko up.'

'Isn't it a bit early?' Yuuichi asked,

'I know, I just want to spend sometime with her before the race,' Bunta explained, 'I'll see you and the guys here in about an hour, okay?'

An increasingly anxious Yuuichi could just watch his friend while he climbed into his car and, after pulling it out of his parking spot at the café where they were, he took off in what was slowly becoming his trademark half drift.

'Shit,' he muttered while making his way to his car.

'What's wrong with you tonight?' Masashi asked him, 'you seem to be worried about something.'

'Yeah, well…' Yuuichi said buying himself time to decide whether he should tell them what he knew or not then, choosing to remain silent until he could speak to Bunta properly, he added, 'this race is going to be a very tough one.'

'It will be,' Masashi agreed, 'but we're talking about Bunta here…he hasn't lost any of the races he's been involved in. He's not going to start now.'

'Exactly,' Shinobu said patting Yuuichi's shoulder, 'don't worry, he'll be fine.'

Yuuichi could only bring himself to nod while, at the same time Bunta was parking his 2000GT near Seiko's place when he saw something out of place: a silver coloured, four-door brand new model of the Toyota Corona. Maybe her father had bought a new car for the family, he thought as he climbed out of his car.

He was about to ring the house's bell when the front door opened to reveal his girlfriend, her parents and some young-ish but smartly dressed guy he'd never seen before.

Bunta went to open his mouth to speak when Seiko, seeing him there, looked positively petrified with horror and stammered:

'B-bunta...'

_To be continued…_


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventeen_

As it normally happened in this kind of situations, all five of them remained quiet and in shock until the sudden arrival of Seiko's younger sister Kumiko made someone finally react. Bunta saw his girlfriend's father's expression turn into an angry scowl and, glaring at the still astonished looking Seiko, he hissed:

'Who is this?'

Seiko glanced from him to Bunta, then moved her gaze to the stranger and, lowering her eyes to the ground, she muttered something that sounded a lot like, 'nobody'.

'He's just a friend of ours,' Kumiko intervened, 'isn't he?' she afsked looking at her older sister intently who, probably unable to do anything else, just nodded.

'What do you want?' Bunta heard Seiko's father ask.

'I…'

'Nothing,' Kumiko interrupted him, 'he's just here to make sure we're okay.'

'Why wouldn't you be, sweetie?' the girls' mother asked with a worried frown on her lined face.

'Seiko and I got harassed on the way back from the mini-market and Fujiwara-san here rescued us,' Kumiko explained and Bunta, despite the fact that he felt extremely confused about what was going on, could not help but to admire the speed at which the girl could make things up.

'Oh my gosh!' her mother exclaimed looking as though as she was grateful and worried at the same time, 'who attacked you?'

'Just a couple of silly boys,' Kumiko replied, 'but Fujiwara-san made sure that they'll never do something like that ever again.'

'Ah…I see,' the girl's father said looking at Bunta with a much more relaxed expression on his face, 'well, young man, we thank you for this but, as you can see, both of our daughters are fine so, you don't need to worry about them.'

'Er…' Seiko started but, once more, Kumiko intervened by walking down the stairs and, taking Bunta's arm, she literally dragged him away from the house.

'What are y…' he started.

'Not now,' Kumiko whispered with such a commanding tone that left absolutely no room for negotiations and, for this reason, Bunta decided to wait until they were both by the 2000GT to ask her what in the heck was going on.

'Look,' the girl said, 'I'm sure Seiko will explain everything to you, right now, I think it's better that you go.'

'But I…'

'Just go, okay?' Kumiko insisted, glancing over her shoulder towards where her family and the stranger were, 'we're lucky: it doesn't seem like you've ruined anything.'

After this very worrying remark, the girl started walking back to her house leaving Bunta with a thousand questions in his mind and with no other option but to climb back into his car where, with a shaky hand, he turned the key in the ignition so that he could re-start the engine.

Moving like an automat, Bunta managed to put the car into motion and, bypassing the whole family, he drove to the point where he and Seiko had agreed to meet up with Fuka, Yuuichi and whoever from the Akina Firebolts would be coming to Irohazaka with them.

Small problem: Seiko wasn't with him.

As his brain slowly recovered from the numbness provoked by the shock, Bunta started putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. A strange man, a family meeting, Seiko's reaction seeing him there and Kumiko's last words…

'What the heck…' he said before slamming the brake pedal of his car.

Not giving a toss about the incoming traffic, he stopped it dead right in the middle of the road and for the briefest of instants, he really considered driving back to Seiko's place but then his more rational side seemed to kick in asking him what good would that do.

'None,' he replied to his own question and moving the car once again.

By the time he made it to the small car park near the expressway, Bunta felt very angry, extremely confused and, above anything else, rather depressed. He really didn't remember of a time when he felt any less like racing.

'Hey,' Yuuichi exclaimed seeing him getting out of the car, 'where's Seiko-chan?' he asked him.

'Dunno,' Bunta lied and, instead of looking at his friend, he found himself glancing at Fuka who, for some weird reason, seemed to want to avoid his gaze. This alone confirmed Bunta's already made up theory, 'can I have a word?' he asked her.

'S-sure,' she stuttered.

'What's going on?' Yuuichi asked him with a concerned frown appearing on his usually cheerful face.

'I don't know yet,' Bunta replied and, with that, he closed the gap between him and Fuka, forcing the girl to follow him to where no one could hear them.

'Bunta-kun…'

'You knew, didn't you?' he asked her out of the blue.

'W-what?' she stammered.

'I've just been to Seiko's place,' Bunta explained, 'and you know who I found there, don't you?'

Fuka's eyes widened for a fraction of a second but that was enough for Bunta to confirm that the girl had indeed known all along that Seiko had another boyfriend who, by the looks of it, had already been accepted into the girl's family.

'She wanted to tell you,' Fuka replied, 'but…'

'But she didn't,' Bunta cut her using a very dry tone of voice, 'I guess I was just a bit of fun to her, wasn't I?' he asked her bitterly.

'No!' Fuka exclaimed, 'listen, this engagement is not her choice.'

'Wait a minute,' Bunta interrupted her again, 'engagement? Who said anything about engagement?'

'I thought you knew,' Fuka said frowning and biting her lower lip, 'I…'

'She's engaged?' Bunta asked her with an abnormally high pitch of voice, 'shit,' he then whispered miserably.

'Look,' Fuka said, looking rather desperate for she didn't seem to know what to do to calm him down, 'her father and Nakajima-san's father arranged everything for the two of them almost a year ago. Seiko accepted the whole thing because she hadn't met anyone who she really liked.'

'What about me?' Bunta asked her, throwing all his pride out of the window.

'That's what the problem is,' Fuka replied, 'she really likes you and ever since you two started seeing each other she's been trying to get out of the agreement she made with her father.'

'But he doesn't even want to hear about it, does he?' Bunta asked her and, once more, Fuka's expression was more than enough of an answer.

'I'm sorry,' she said, 'I warned Seiko that she needed to come clean with you but…' she stopped speaking seeing Bunta's frown which was full of resolution then, as he started turning round, she grabbed him by his arm and said, 'where are you going?'

'To speak to her father,' Bunta replied.

'No! Wait!' she said tightening her grasp on him, 'you could ruin everything for her.'

That made him stop trying to tug himself free and, very slowly, he turned back to face her and looking at her with a pained expression on his face, he remembered Kumiko's words.

'Why?'

Fuka looked at him clearly unsure of how to phrase her reply then, lowering her gaze to the ground, almost in the same guilty way Seiko had done just a few moments before, she glanced back at him and said:

'I know this will sound pretty bad but, this marriage would secure Seiko's future.'

'WHAT?' Bunta now shouted.

'Nakajima-san's family is one of the richest in Maebashi,' Fuka replied trying to remain unfazed, 'Seiko's father has…'

'She was marrying him for MONEY?' Bunta asked her with such a disgusted tone of voice that he seemed to be spitting his words out rather than speaking them.

'Yes,' Fuka finally admitted, letting go of his arm in the process.

'I can't believe this,' Bunta said starting to pace up and down nervously.

'Hey Bunta,' he heard Yuuichi shout from where the cars were, 'we're going to be late!'

'Shit,' Bunta muttered, 'the race.'

'Bunta-kun,' Fuka said, 'I know that you probably don't feel like racing right now but, I think it's better that you give some space to Seiko, who knows, maybe she'll end up convincing her father to break off the engagement.'

'Yeah, right,' Bunta said sounding very sceptical.

'Besides,' she continued, 'you can't run away from a challenge you've issued yourself, can you?'

Bunta looked at her for a short moment before he started shaking his head slowly then, taking a very deep breath, he started walking away from her and, without exchanging so much of a word with neither Yuuichi nor Shinobu, Masashi and a couple of other guys who in the meantime had arrived, he climbed into his car and started the engine.

'What's happened?' a worried Yuuichi asked his girlfriend.

'Nothing important,' she lied, 'I'll tell you on our way to Nikko…'

Almost an hour later, Bunta parked his car next to Yuuichi's Capella spotting almost at once the midnight blue Nissan GT-R which belonged to Ken Kogashiwa, seeing that the guy was standing next to it, chatting with several people, obviously friends of his.

'Let's do this,' he whispered to himself climbing out of the car and trying, for the umpteenth time to fuel up his racing instinct, failing once again. Geez, if he only could just send that bastard to hell, he'd probably drive back to Shibukawa this instant so that he could go and speak to Seiko.

Seiko…

What in the heck had she been thinking? Bunta asked himself without being able to come up with an answer. Sadly enough, the fact that he was getting so worked up about this only confirmed what he'd been suspecting for quite a few days: he was in love with her.

This was ridiculous, he tried to convince himself. He'd only known her for less than a month, how could he have fallen for her so badly?

'You showed up,' Ken's annoying leer interrupted his train of thoughts, 'that's very brave of you.'

'Shut the fuck up,' Bunta barked angrily.

'Hey, hey,' Ken said putting his hands up while he smirked at Bunta, 'I know this road is scary but, there's no need to be so afraid: I promise I'll make this as painless as possible.'

Bunta found himself grasping the guy's shirt and, putting his face a couple of centimetres away from Ken's, he hissed:

'Shut it.'

'Alright boys,' Shinobu said as he tried to separate the two younger men, 'let's take things easy, okay?' he added looking at Bunta with an unspoken warning on his expression while indicating with his head at the group of locals who were very unimpressed by Bunta's sudden display of anger.

Instead of answering, the two rivals just glared at each other before walking back to their cars.

'Shinobu-san,' Yuuichi whispered, 'I don't think this race is such a great idea.'

'Neither do I,' the Akina Firebolts' leader agreed, 'I don't know what's wrong with him but, unfortunately, he's issued the challenge and, unless that guy over there decides not to race, Bunta's got no choice but to go ahead.'

'That's right,' Masashi added, 'by the way, what in the heck is wrong with him?'

'I don't know,' Yuuichi lied making Fuka close her mouth for she had been about to reply, 'let's just hope Bunta keeps his cool at least behind the wheel.'

Meanwhile everyone cleared the road so that the two contenders could line up the two cars next to each other, Bunta tried his best to gather up all the negative thoughts and push them aside, together with the anxiety that he felt regarding this race.

Swallowing a couple of times, he forced his brain to switch into racing mode and, as he started to remember all the turns, hairpins and straights which conformed this course, he tightened his grasp on the steering wheel and, giving himself a short nod, he signalled to the Irohazaka official that he was ready.

The guy, receiving the same indication from Ken Kogashiwa, commenced the count down and, as soon as he shouted them the go, the two cars took off with Bunta leaving the Nissan behind so badly that it made all the locals gasp.

'If that's proof of anything,' a very impressed looking Shinobu said, 'I think Bunta's got his cool.'

'Yeah, I'd say that too,' Yuuichi agreed smiling for the first time since all seven of them had arrived there. He also felt slightly ashamed that he'd even doubted Bunta's abilities when it came to racing…

'You think he'll be alright?' Fuka asked to no one in particular.

'Yes, he will be,' Masashi replied, 'he's been here quite a few times…the rascal told me that he was coming here instead of practicing in Akagi.'

'What?' Yuuichi exclaimed, unable to believe his ears.

'I wonder where he finds the time to do everything he does,' Shinobu commented.

'No idea,' Masashi replied amusedly while the two other members of the Akina Firebolts chuckled. Amidst the hilarity, the four men missed the worried look Fuka exchanged with her boyfriend.

While this was happening, a bit further down of the mountain pass Bunta kept increasing the distance between his car and that of his rival, using the technique he'd learned in his practice sessions there which allowed him to cut off quite a lot of the road he had to cover.

Just to double check where Ken was, Bunta stole a quick glance at the rear view mirror and, to his shock and horror, he realised that Nissan's headlights were a hell of a lot closer than he thought they'd be.

'What the…' he muttered figuring out the reason why his opponent had been able to keep up with him, 'of course,' Bunta whispered feeling slightly idiotic for not having come up with the answer a lot sooner.

Ken Kogashiwa was a local in this road, it probably was pretty common knowledge that one could jump down and across the hairpins in order to make them shorter.

Flooring the accelerator, Bunta tried to increase the 2000GT speed as much as he could, always keeping an eye on both the very bendy road and the Nissan he had behind, finding it so challenging that he soon didn't even remember anything about Seiko.

Seiko…

'No,' he muttered, he couldn't think about her right now. He needed to focus on the race.

Using every ounce of his determination, Bunta drove down the mountain like if he had the devil himself chasing him, making the car go where no sane person had gone before. Unfortunately for Bunta, Ken Kogashiwa was just as crazy and, being the local boy, he probably had even more reasons not to be beaten.

Maybe because of this and as they approached the mid-point of the race, Bunta felt as the GT-R's front bumper grazed the rear one of the 2000GT.

'What the…'

Knowing he didn't have the room to think, much less to speak, Bunta tensed up and started pushing the car even more, taking it just beyond the line of what was considered safe: any tiny mistake now and he'll probably kill himself.

He felt all four tyres scratching the rough surface of the road as he made the Toyota drift across one of the very few high speed corners from where, if one had the time to look, one could see the three bridges which marked the end of the course.

To Bunta, that was still an age away so, instead, he concentrated on the last series of hairpins he had right ahead of him. He entered the first and, as he had done with quite a few of them, he balanced both throttle and clutch in order to make it possible for the car to lose contact with the ground.

Once again, he had the almost exhilarating experience of flying over the road with his car, if only weren't because he suffered quite a lot every time the gravity claimed both he and the car back onto the tarmac…

'Shit,' he winced hearing way the poor suspensions complained while trying to cope with the sudden impact, one for which they clearly weren't designed.

After this race, he definitely had to treat the car to a very good check up, Bunta thought as he entered the following hairpin, this time just letting the car slide as fast as he could around it.

He was about to finish clearing the corner when he felt, once again, the Skyline's rear bumper trying to push him out of the way.

'What in…'

Bunta never finished the thought for, right at that instant, and probably feeling quite fed up with being left behind, Ken Kogashiwa tried what was his very first attack in the whole race.

Veering towards the inside of the corner while making sure that the outside wasn't wide enough for the Nissan to get past, Bunta pressed the accelerator as far as it could go, hoping against hope that Ken would have the sense to stop if he saw that there wasn't enough room.

His prayers were obviously ignored for, as soon as the two cars finished clearing the corner, Bunta heard more than saw the Nissan levelling with the Toyota, clearly pushing him out of the way.

Unfortunately for Ken Kogashiwa, Bunta wasn't one to give up all that easily and, just as they entered the last right hander before the long straight which led to the first bridge, he made the Toyota turn outwards, crossing his line with that of the Nissan.

The rest happened in slow motion: finding himself out of road, Ken was forced to brake so suddenly that he lost control of his vehicle, sending it straight towards the passenger side of the 2000GT and somehow sensing the imminent collision, Bunta tried his best to remove his car out of the Nissan's trajectory.

He only had a fraction of an instant to realise that by doing that, he had driven himself to the guardrail and, the crash which followed made Bunta feel nearly as bad as when he'd been told about his parents' death.

'Fuck,' he muttered putting his head onto the hands he still had on the steering wheel.

An even louder squealing sound followed by yet another crash made him lift his head and looking out of the car, he saw just a few meters ahead of him, the midnight blue Nissan KPGC10 with the driver's side slammed against a rock-made wall.

Snatching the seatbelt open, Bunta jumped out of his car and started running towards the Nissan, feeling an immense wave of relief when he saw Ken Kogashiwa climbing out of it, using the passenger's door to do so.

'Are you al…'

He stopped speaking the instant his rival looked at him: Ken's eyes were as hard and cold as ice itself and it only took a couple of seconds for Bunta to figure out what was coming next. In fact, seeing the way his rival was rushing towards him, with his hand curled into a fist, left Bunta with no option but to prepare himself for a very nasty fight.

_To be continued…_


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Eighteen_

Just as Bunta was about to prepare himself to dodge the first of what looked like one of a long series of punches that Ken had reserved for him, he heard the sounds of several people running as they made their way towards the two crashed cars.

'Hey! Are you two alright?' both racers heard a young man ask.

Then Bunta, making his second biggest mistake of the evening, turned round to see who was there when, even before he had the time to see anything or anyone, he felt like something had exploded on his left cheek, finding himself flying backwards, landing rather heavily onto the ground and hitting the bottom section of his back in a very painful manner.

'Don't you turn your back on me!' a furious Ken Kogashiwa bellowed.

'You fuck…' Bunta started while he sprung up, readying his fist so that he could return the favour.

'Oh shit!' they heard the same guy say.

'HEY!' another one shouted, 'STOP IT YOU TWO!'

Soon enough, both Bunta and Ken found themselves surrounded by quite a few guys who up to just a few minutes before had been scattered behind the guardrails.

'We saw everything,' the young man said pointing at himself and a couple of his friends, 'it was an accident.'

'The fuck it was!' Ken exclaimed and, just before he could punch Bunta once again, he got restrained by a couple of men who, despite being considerably older and bigger than he was, they still had quite a lot of trouble keeping him away from Bunta who, in the mean time, was busy rubbing his rapidly swelling cheek.

'If you had moved…' he started but then, an even older looking guy put his hand up and, speaking to him, he shook his head gravely while he said:

'I think it'd be better if you just go.'

'NO WAY!' Ken shouted, 'I HAVEN'T FINISHED WITH HIM YET!'

'Just go,' the guy repeated, apparently ignoring Ken's vehement protests and this, made Bunta realise for the first time that despite the fact that he was horribly outnumbered, no one from the public seemed to be willing to take sides so, deciding to play it smartly, he chose not to press his luck any further.

'Alright,' he finally conceded then, squinting his eyes, he glared briefly at a still enraged looking Ken before turning round and heading back to his 2000GT which, thankfully enough, still had its engine running.

Climbing into his car and without bothering to fasten his seatbelt, Bunta bypassed the group of people who had gathered there, taking a last look at the crashed Nissan Skyline and at its very upset owner and feeling a new wave of anger and guilt as he did so.

It's not your fault! Bunta thought, trying and failing to convince himself that he had really done nothing but to stick to what was his race line.

Letting out a shaky breath, he suddenly remembered that it wasn't enough to drive down the hill: he still needed to go back up the other road, the one which took him to the mountain's summit.

'Just perfect,' he muttered bitterly.

At long last, Bunta reached the small car park where there was a very sharp turn and from where the uphill section of the twin roads started. There, and to his utmost surprise, he saw Yuuichi's Mazda and Shinobu's Toyota waiting for him, with the young couple and all four members of the Akina Firebolts inside the two cars.

Following his instincts, Bunta decided to remain inside the 2000GT and, instead, he stopped the car next to that of Shinobu, he rolled down the window and said:

'What are you all doing in here?'

'Let's go,' Shinobu replied in what sounded more like an order rather than a suggestion which made Bunta think that, somehow, his friends had already found out what had happened.

Not wanting to argue, not that he had any energy left to do so, Bunta just nodded and, re-entering the first gear, he drove off, hoping that the two other cars would promptly follow him then, just over an hour later and before they reached the small town where they all lived, he saw Shinobu flashing the headlights of his car at him.

Pulling over to the side of the road, Bunta decided to finally climb out of the car.

'We heard you and that Kogashiwa character had a fight,' Shinobu-san started as soon as he too had got out of his Toyota followed by his three team mates and a very frightened looking Fuka and Yuuichi.

'Yeah,' Bunta then, taking a deep breath, he proceeded to explain the whole thing to all of them.

'Wow!' Masashi exclaimed amusedly, 'you sure know how to make an impression.'

'This is not funny,' Shinobu admonished him, 'he could have got into very serious trouble,' he added, this time looking at Bunta in a very disapproving way, 'not to mention that he could have killed himself.'

'It wasn't my fault!' the teenager defended himself, 'if he had…'

'He was in his home turf,' Shinobu interrupted him, 'consider yourself very lucky,' he said, 'if something like that ever happened at Akina, I'm not quite sure if the galleries would behave so impartially.'

Bunta swallowed for he knew the Akina Firebolts' leader was right but, his own stubborn nature made him glare at the older guy and, using a tone of voice which bordered with rudeness, he said:

'I'm going home.'

Then, before no one had the time to stop him, he ran back to his car and put it into motion driving off almost as fast as he'd done less than a couple of hours before.

'I've never seen him getting so mad before,' Masashi commented pointlessly.

'He's not mad,' Shinobu contradicted him, 'he's just probably scared.'

'Scared?' Yuuichi asked him raising his eyebrows in disbelief, 'I don't think he's the type who is afraid of a fight.'

'I'm not talking about what happened at Irohazaka,' Shinobu explained, 'I'm thinking of how his uncle is going to react to seeing the car. Didn't you see the dent on it?'

All of the three other men flinched at the same time making Fuka want to burst out laughing and only the gravity of the situation prevented her from doing so.

Meanwhile, Bunta felt indeed pretty anxious as he parked the Toyota in its usual spot near the tofu shop Eikichi ran. Only after making sure that the ugly looking dent which had deformed part of the car's passenger side wasn't too obvious, he started making his way to the two floor building.

'Hey there,' his uncle started saying using an oddly cheerful tone of voice then, Bunta saw him frowning and, leaving the huge knife he used to cut up the tofu, he rushed towards his nephew, 'what in the heck has happened?'

'It's a long story,' Bunta replied praying so that he wouldn't have to explain the whole thing all over again.

'I've got nothing but time,' Eikichi countered, clearly not buying the much younger man's attempt at trying to avoid the issue.

'I'm really tired,' Bunta said, 'can I please go to sleep?'

'No,' Eikichi replied making his nephew scowl, 'who punched you?'

'Who said anyone did?' Bunta asked back almost wishing he hadn't for his uncle gave him an annoyingly knowing look, 'alright, that Kogashiwa guy from Irohazaka did.'

'Why?' Eikichi asked him.

'Eikichi…'

'Did you lose the race?'

'NO!' Bunta finally exclaimed for, technically speaking, that was true: no one had really won that race.

'I see,' he heard his uncle say, 'well, what happened then?'

Geez, this guy could seriously get on his nerves, Bunta thought while trying to figure out a way to get out of this conversation for he would have rather volunteered to go to the dentist rather than having to explain to his uncle about the outcome of his first 'away' battle.

'Kiddo…'

'Look,' Bunta finally said, 'it's pretty simple: the guy tried to pass me, I blocked him, we crashed and he hit me, alright?'

'What…'

'Are you happy with that?' Bunta asked him allowing himself, for the first time that evening, to express how angry, upset and just horribly depressed he was.

'No,' Eikichi replied frowning in concern, 'I'm not happy at all.'

'Sorry if I keep disappointing you,' Bunta countered bitterly.

'No,' Eikichi repeated, 'I'm not disappointed,' he added, 'I'm more worried than anything else.'

'Why?' Bunta asked him feeling rather surprised hear such an apprehensive tone coming from a guy who, except that time up at Akina, had never shown any emotion other than amusement or sarcasm.

'I thought we had already gone through this,' Eikichi replied putting his hands on top of his nephew's shoulders, 'if anything were to happen to you…I don't know what I'd do.'

The cold rock Bunta had in his stomach just got heavier hearing the angst in his uncle's voice and, that horrible feeling made him forget that he was supposed to look embarrassed at such blatant display of affection.

'I'm sorry,' he managed to mutter.

'Alright,' Eikichi said while he visibly fought to gather up whatever was left of his dignity by removing his hands from Bunta's shoulders, stuffing them into the front pockets of his shabby looking pair of pants.

'Can I go to bed now?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes,' he replied then, as if he'd had a second thought, he added, 'you said you crashed the car.'

The teenager could only bring himself to nod.

'Okay,' Eikichi continued, 'I'll help you to fix it up.'

'W-what?' Bunta stuttered, unable to believe his ears. Had his uncle just offered himself to help him with his car? No way…whatever next? Snow in August? His expression of utter incredulity was apparently rather funny for Eikichi's lips started quivering into a small but amused grin.

'You heard me,' he replied, 'now, go to sleep: I'll wake you up in about three hours for the deliveries.'

Nodding once more, Bunta turned round and, taking off his shoes, he stepped onto the tatami-floored living room and started making his way up to this bedroom, deciding not to get undressed since he'd be getting up soon afterwards.

Only once he was lying on top of his bed, with both of his hands tugged under his head, he allowed himself to make a report of the whole night, trying his best to sort out his problems in order of priority, finding it almost impossible not to go absolutely mental in the process.

To begin with, he didn't have a clue about what to do with the whole situation with his girlfriend.

She was engaged to someone else and that was a fact. However and since the two of them hadn't been able to talk, he still had no way to know what her intentions were so there was little point in worrying about that just yet.

Then, he had the fiasco of a battle he'd just finished. Some sort of whim told him that this wasn't going to be the last time he would see that Kogashiwa guy.

'Screw him,' he whispered to himself, taking his right hand from under his head and placing his fingertips onto his bruised left cheek.

One thing was clear: whenever he'd see him again, he would definitely give him that punch back…before that, he needed to get his car fixed, starting to calculate how much money that would cost him, money that he could no longer spend on trying to improve his ride…

Bunta let out a frustrated sigh and, by the time he heard someone rapping onto the thin door, he realised that he had not fallen asleep at all having spent over three hours thinking about all of his problems.

'I'm awake,' he said.

'Good,' he heard Eikichi's deep voice from behind the door, 'I'm leaving in five minutes.'

Bunta jumped up from his bed with a smirk curving his lips: this guy was seriously too much, he thought while trying to straighten up his clothes, forgetting all about his hair for, he knew that nothing but a good bath would be able to tame it.

Padding out of the room, he walked back downstairs where he found his uncle putting his shoes back on. The man, seeing him already there, grinned at him and said:

'Sleeping with your clothes on has several advantages, huh?'

'Yeah, it does,' Bunta replied feeling almost happy that the older man's tone of voice was back at his sarcastic usual self.

'Let's go then,' Eikichi said, getting up from his sitting position so that Bunta could put his shoes on too then, following him across the shop's darkened area, both men stepped out of their home and made their way to the Isuzu Bellett which, by the way, it seemed to look better than ever.

'Have you washed it?' Bunta asked him.

'Yep,' Eikichi replied, 'you should try it on yours too: a good scrub does wonders to a car.'

'Ha, ha, very funny,' he commented humourlessly while he went towards the Bellett's passenger side.

'Where do you think you're going?' Eikichi asked him making him stop half way to the car's door.

'Er…'

'Is that way,' Eikichi said, pointing towards the left side of his own car which, unless Bunta was misinterpreting the whole thing very badly, could only mean one thing:

'Do you want me to…to drive?' he dared to ask.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied.

'B-but…' Bunta stuttered, 'Eikichi…I…'

'Just get in, will you?' his uncle insisted then, giving him a half a smile, he added, 'before I change my mind.'

'Alright,' Bunta hurried to reply, rushing towards the driver's door so fast that he almost collided against his uncle on his way there. The older man just shook his head as he went to the passenger's side of the car.

Once inside the car and in a cup holder pretty much identical to the one he'd installed in his 2000GT's, Bunta saw a paper cup full of water.

'Don't spill any of it,' Eikichi warned him.

'Alright,' Bunta said and, with that, before his uncle could indeed change his mind about letting the teenager drive his beloved car, he took the key out of Eikichi's hand and, inserting it very carefully into the ignition, he turned the car's engine on, noticing yet again, how beautifully kept the whole thing was.

Feeling even more nervous than the very first time he'd driven a car, all those years before, he pressed the clutch with almost loving care, placed his hand onto the shifter and, being extremely gentle, he entered the first gear.

'We should leave today, you know…' he then heard his uncle sarcastic remark.

'I know,' Bunta allowed himself to reply as he started making the car roll forward then, turning the steering wheel, he drove the Isuzu onto the narrow street, bypassing his own Toyota as he made it to the main road.

'Make it go faster,' Eikichi ordered him as soon as they were there.

'Are you sure?' Bunta asked him, just to be certain for, in reality, he was very much looking forward to seeing what he could do with the car.

'Yes, don't worry,' Eikichi replied, 'I trust you,' he added.

'Uncle Eikichi,' Bunta said as he started giving more gas to the car, 'I know that this is probably not the right moment to say this but, I've just crashed my father's car and…'

'That's precisely why you're driving mine now,' Eikichi interrupted him then, noticing his nephew's inquisitive look, he added, 'statistically speaking, you can't possibly crash twice in the same evening, can you?'

Bunta shook his head more out of disbelief than as a way to answer to his uncle's question.

'There you go,' Eikichi said with a confident-looking smile, 'now, hurry up or we'll be late.'

'Fine,' Bunta replied smiling too and feeling very grateful that his uncle had found a truly fantastic way of making things seem a little less gloomy. He was driving a beautiful piece of machinery up his favourite pass in the whole of Gunma and, to top it off, his uncle seemed to be willing for the first time ever to share some of his knowledge when it came to this road.

'Be careful there,' he commented pointing at the left-hand corner they were about to tackle, 'you need to enter quite fast and stay close to the middle of the road or you'll be sent straight onto the guardrail.'

'Sure,' Bunta said noticing with immense pleasure that they'd already made it all the way to the top of the mountain and that the water cup was still pretty much intact. Feeling even happier when, once they had delivered the tofu and while they headed back downhill, he actually saw that his uncle was actually getting excited.

'Well done,' the older man said while Bunta drove the car back into the street where the tofu shop was.

'Thanks,' he replied and was about to add something else when he noticed a lonely figure standing right outside their home.

'Who's that?' Eikichi asked.

'Oh crap,' Bunta said then, parking the car a lot more hastily than he had intended, he climbed out of it and, without waiting for his uncle to do the same, he made his way to the shop's front door, 'what are you doing in here?'

'I'm sorry,' a very sad looking Kumiko said, 'I don't have too much time so…'

'What's going on?' Eikichi asked looking rather surprised to see such a young girl outside at that time of the morning, 'who are you?' he added.

'I'm…'

'Uncle Eikichi,' Bunta interrupted her, 'can you please give us five minutes?'

The older man looked first at his nephew, then at the girl and back at his nephew before, very reluctantly, he nodded a couple of times and said:

'Alright, but make sure she gets back home safely.'

'Sure,' Bunta said before Kumiko could say anything at all. He then waited for his uncle to get inside the shop to look at the fifteen year old girl, 'where's Seiko?'

'I'm really sorry I'm the one who's got to do this,' she said while she took a small and crumpled envelope out of the pocket of her jeans, 'my sister wanted you to know her version of the story.'

'Wait a minute,' Bunta cut her off again, 'what are you doing in here at this time of the morning and why isn't your sister the one giving me this?'

Kumiko stared at him for a couple of seconds before looking back at the ground between her feet and, using an uncharacteristic shy tone of voice, she said:

'After you showed up this evening, my father didn't seem to buy our excuse very well so, it's been decided that in a few hours time both my sister and I will be moving to our aunt's until the wedding. Just to be safe.'

'W-what?' Bunta stammered while fighting to keep a normal tone of voice, 'where is it that you're going?' he somehow managed to ask.

'Furano,' Kumiko replied, 'that's in Hokkaido,' she added uselessly for Bunta knew perfectly well where Furano was: in the northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago and over one thousand miles away from Shibukawa.

For the third time that night, Bunta felt like he'd just been kicked in the stomach.

_To be continued…_


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Nineteen_

Within just a few seconds, Bunta's brain went through everything he'd been feeling during the past few days and, before he realised what he was doing, he grabbed Kumiko by her arm and started dragging her towards his car.

'Hey!' she protested, 'what do you think you're doing?'

'We're going to your place,' Bunta replied firmly and without having any intentions whatsoever of stopping, despite the fact that the girl was doing her best to free herself from his grasp.

'You're hurting me!' she complained and that, for some reason, made him turn round to look at her, forcing him to see that he was indeed pressing his right hand onto her thin arm a bit too tightly.

'Sorry,' he muttered finally releasing Kumiko, who then started rubbing the spot where Bunta's hand had been while glaring at him in a way that managed to startle him. Sometimes he found it hard to believe that such a resolute, tomboyish girl was super-feminine Seiko's younger sister.

'You can't come home with me,' she spat.

'Why not?' Bunta asked her getting slightly impatient.

'To begin with,' Kumiko said, 'you don't think I've just gone out at a time like this with my parents knowing about it, do you?'

'Er…'

'I hope you can figure out on your own that my father would definitely not be very impressed if he saw you coming to the house at this time of the morning,' she explained, 'even more so since YOU are the cause of our moving to Hokkaido.'

'Please don't remind me of that,' Bunta begged.

'Well,' she said, 'I have to remind both of us, given that I'm supposed to get up in less than half an hour so Seiko and I finish off packing our suitcases.'

For the first time Bunta noticed that the girl was probably as thrilled about the idea of having to follow her older sister to Hokkaido as he was about the idea of losing his girlfriend. Thinking of Seiko made him remember the letter Kumiko still had clutched in her hand.

'Can I see that?' he asked her, trying to use a much kinder tone of voice.

'Sure,' Kumiko replied finally handing him the envelope which was so badly crumpled that Bunta had to flatten it against his own arm before he could, with very shaky hands, open it extracting then one single piece of paper on which he saw a few rows of Seiko's pretty handwriting.

'I can leave if…'

'No,' he said, 'stay, it's alright,' he added as he started reading the first words of the letter, feeling the frown which contracted his eyebrows was getting deeper and deeper as he scanned the letter for he definitely didn't like what he was reading, 'what…' he breathed just as he finished reading.

'I'm sorry,' Kumiko said making Bunta lift his head up so brusquely that he felt slightly faint, 'I helped her write it,' she explained, noticing the way he was staring at her.

'YOU did?'

'Yes,' she replied, 'she was too nervous to think straight and she had already started the letter fifteen times before I decided to help her put in words what she needed to tell you…' the girl stopped speaking when Bunta started walking towards her in what seemed to her a rather menacing way, 'I better go,' she added hastily.

'Wait a minute!' Bunta shouted grasping her arm again to prevent her from going anywhere, 'you've got some cheek showing up here, you know.'

'Bunta…I…'

'I know you've never liked me,' he said, 'but I think you've gone way too far with this!'

'What are you talking about?' the girl managed to ask, keeping an admirably firm tone of voice.

'You shouldn't meddle with other people's business,' he hissed, 'Seiko would have never written something like that on her own! She wouldn't have chosen to stop fighting and to give in to your father's wishes if she had decided everything herself.'

'You obviously don't know my sister very well,' Kumiko countered, now looking even angrier than Bunta.

'What's that supposed to mean?' he asked her.

'Let go of me and I'll tell you,' she replied then, being once again free from his grasp, she added, 'my sister's a very capricious character and can be stupidly immature sometimes and she'll never change that. My father knows her and he knows she needs someone who'll take care of her even from a financial point of view so she doesn't have to worry about anything.'

'I can do that too!' he countered.

'No you can't,' Kumiko replied, 'you're in high school and you don't even have the money to support yourself let alone anyone else. My sister has pondered all of those factors before making her decision. The only thing I've helped her with is with finding the right words to let you know.'

'Then why is your father sending you two to Hokkaido?' Bunta asked her feeling the hurt of Seiko's rejection beginning to mount at an alarmingly fast rate.

'I told you,' she said, 'she's very capricious and our father is afraid she'll change her mind again if she stays around here.'

'And what's wrong with that?' Bunta asked, 'maybe she just needs more time to figure things out.'

'No,' Kumiko insisted, 'I've already told you this too. In any case, I've got to go now, my father's going to be up soon and I have to get back home before he does…'

'Wait,' Bunta repeated, 'I want to speak to Seiko.'

'I don't think that's a good idea,' Kumiko replied, 'please, try to understand. I'm truly sorry about this and, it's not true that I never liked you. You just weren't the right guy for my sister.'

With that and before Bunta could do anything to prevent it, the girl started running towards a pushbike which was leaning against a nearby wall. Getting onto it, she pedalled almost unnecessarily fast, looking like she was as much in a rush to get home as she was of getting away from Bunta.

'Are you two done?' he heard his uncle's raspy voice say from the shop's entrance.

'What are you doing in here?' Bunta asked him, using a tone of voice which bordered with rudeness.

'I live here,' Eikichi replied apparently choosing not to take offence for his nephew's lack of respect, 'and so do you so, come on in,' he then added a bit more seriously.

'I can't,' Bunta said, 'I've got to…'

'You're not going to go to that girl's place,' Eikichi said making it almost sound like an order.

'But…'

'Bunta,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I happen to agree with that girl, she seems to know what she's talking about and, in my opinion, it's better to stay out of another family's business.'

'Eikichi,' Bunta said, unable to believe his ears, 'I thought that you, of all people, would understand my point of view! How can you even allow this to happen? Do you know that Seiko's marriage's been arranged for her?'

'I've kind of figured it out,' Eikichi replied, 'but I fail to see why I should be against it.'

'What about what happened with Miyoko?' Bunta dared to ask him, hoping that the mention of the older man's former girlfriend would provoke the reaction he was after. He didn't and, instead, Eikichi just looked at him coldly as he said:

'It is precisely because of Miyoko that I think the way I do,' he said, 'nowadays I'm not too sure if she would have been happy with me and I kind of feel grateful she ended up having a nice life.'

'You really think that?'

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'Bunta, life has a funny way of making you do whatever it's got planned for you. If Seiko's the woman you're supposed to be with for the rest of your life, she'll find your way back to you again and, if she isn't, you should just hope that she'll be happy.'

Bunta stared at him for a few moments before bowing his head to stare at the ground instead then, lifting his eyes up to look at Eikichi's lined face, he said:

'So, what am I supposed to do with my feelings for her?'

'Treasure them,' Eikichi replied, 'and, with time, learn to live with them if you can't find someone who'll make you feel this way again.'

'Is it what you do?'

'Yes,' Eikichi replied being unusually honest, 'now, let's go to bed, it's almost dawn now and we've got to fix your car in the morning.'

After this he just walked back into his shop not even bothering to check whether Bunta was following him or not which, ultimately, he did for he realised that there simply was nothing he could do right now. He'll think of something later, when he'd be a lot less tired.

Going up to his room, Bunta laid down on his bed and, turning the light on the bedside table, he proceeded to re-read Seiko's letter:

_Dear Bunta,_

_I'm truly sorry for having to say this in writing for I would have preferred to tell you in person. I've learned through Fuka that you know I was engaged even before I met you. When I accepted my father's wishes I never expected to find someone I like as much as I like you…_

Like.

Bunta stopped reading right then and he felt his eyebrows contract into yet another frown. She said 'like', not 'love', why hadn't he noticed that before?

…_when you've shown up this evening my father has kind of figured out that something was fishy (he probably found it rather strange that someone needed to defend Kumiko) and for this reason he's asked his older sister if we can move in with her until the wedding. Kumiko and I will be catching a train tomorrow morning and I don't expect I'll be seeing you again. I'm very sorry we have to part like this but, I've been doing some thinking and I realised that it's the best for the two of us. I only hope you'll be able to forgive me one day._

_With my best wishes for your future, _

_Seiko_

_PS: Thanks for all the good times we've shared together: I shall treasure them!_

So freaking impersonal, Bunta thought miserably, throwing the piece of paper onto the floor and covering his face with his free hand. Now that he'd had the chance to read the thing more carefully he realised that she didn't sound anywhere near as desperate as he felt.

Like.

She liked him. Just liked him, nothing more.

'What the…' he muttered to himself letting out a sigh full of all the pain and frustration he'd been accumulating throughout the night. He'd even crashed his beloved car because of her.

By the time Bunta managed to force himself to sleep, it was already day outside and he was grateful that he'd installed very thick curtains to cover up the double paned window the room had for it would have been even more difficult to fall asleep otherwise.

'Bunta?' he heard someone knock on his door after what had felt like less than a handful of minutes then, glancing at the small alarm clock on his desk, he saw that it was well past ten o'clock, 'Bunta…'

The teenager realised that the voice coming from the other side of the door wasn't Eikichi's and that made him jump out of bed then, not even bothering to straighten his clothes, he went to get the door open.

'Yuuichi,' he said, 'what are you doing in here?'

'What are YOU doing here sleeping?' his friend countered.

'Er…' Bunta said while scratching his very messy hair, 'this is my bedroom,' he commented pointing at the room almost sarcastically, 'what else am I supposed to do in here?'

'Forget about this,' Yuuichi said, 'why aren't you at the station?'

'The station?' Bunta asked.

'Yes!' Yuuichi exclaimed exasperatedly, 'Seiko-chan's train is leaving in less than half an hour!'

Bunta stared at Yuuichi for a couple of seconds before bowing his head down to look at the floor between his feet then, using a tone of voice which was as low as it sounded indifferent, he shrugged his shoulders and said:

'So what?'

'BUNTA!' Yuuichi exclaimed, 'you've got to go and…'

'I don't want to see her,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I really don't want to see her,' he repeated seeing the incredulous look on his friend's face.

'Why not?' Yuuichi asked him.

'I don't want to explain it to you,' Bunta replied, 'I just don't feel like seeing her right now.'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said now looking slightly hurt on the face of Bunta's rebuff, 'she's going to Hokkaido, you're not going to see her in a very long time…'

'I may not see her ever again,' Bunta countered.

'Let's go then!' Yuuichi exclaimed, this time taking his friend by his arm so that he would step out of his bedroom, 'come on!'

'No,' Bunta said refusing to move a single step, 'I said I'm not going. I've got other things to do.'

'Bunta…'

'Hey kid,' they both heard Eikichi's voice say from the top of the staircase, 'he said he's not going. We've got to start working on his car right now.'

'That's right,' Bunta said, 'do you want to give us a hand?'

Yuuichi stared at the two of them clearly thinking that they both had gone mental but then, just as he was about to complain yet again, he saw that Bunta's resolute expression was very serious and that, if nothing else, convinced Yuuichi that his friend was determined to stick to his decision.

'Alright then,' he finally said, 'I guess I can leave Fuka to say her goodbyes on her own.'

'Good job,' Eikichi commented then, after taking a good look at his nephew, he added, 'you better get changed, we'll be going to Nitta's place.'

'Really?' Bunta asked looking fairly surprised.

'Yep,' Eikichi replied, 'I don't have all the tools I need to fix that dent you got on the Toyota. I'm kind of hoping your boss will allow us to use his shop to do the job.'

As it turned out, Nitta was a little more than surprised but pleased to see both Fujiwaras stepping into his shop on a Sunday morning, even more so seeing that Yuuichi was there too but then, taking a quick look at the 2000GT he suddenly understood everything.

'So,' he said to Eikichi when the two teenagers were distracted preparing all the materials they would need, 'you've finally given in or has he lost a race?'

'Neither,' Eikichi replied, 'he's lost something a lot more important than a race and I'm just trying to make him forget about it.'

Nitta looked positively taken aback by this statement but, noticing that both Bunta and Yuuichi had finished their job and were now waiting for the two older men made him just shake his head and, letting out a soft chuckle, he followed Eikichi towards the damaged Toyota so that the four of them could start working on it.

A few hours later, and with the whole bodywork now looking a lot shinier due to the brand new layer of paint which had just been sprayed onto the car, both Eikichi and Nitta nodded approvingly at the job the two of them had just finished.

'Now we just have to let it dry,' the latter said to Bunta.

'That's right,' Eikichi agreed, 'after that, I'd like to take it for a spin.'

'Why?' Bunta asked him, 'I thought we'd repaired everything.'

'We have,' Nitta assured him while winking his eye at Eikichi, 'I'm kind of guessing that your uncle here wants to see if there's something he can do to make the car go faster, isn't that right?'

'Not faster,' Eikichi replied, 'just safer. After all, you're still learning how to drive it properly and I want to make sure the car can cope with that.'

'WHAT?' Bunta exclaimed but, instead of getting an answer to his question, he saw as both his uncle and Nitta just burst out laughing while the poor Yuuichi was doing his best to stop himself from following them suit. Bunta wanted to protest but then, feeling rather happy about the fact that for once, Eikichi seemed to be socialising with someone other than his usual customers, decided to ignore the whole thing.

A couple of evenings later and as soon as Eikichi had finally finished with it, Bunta felt like his Toyota 2000GT was an entirely different car: his uncle hadn't limited himself with fixing the exterior of it but he seemed to have gone through virtually every mechanical part of it, making sure that everything was in pristine order before he deemed that the car was roadworthy.

'Wow!' Yuuichi exclaimed as Bunta took one of the Akina's sharpest corners.

'It feels great, doesn't it?'

'Great?' Yuuichi asked back, 'Bunta, your uncle's a wizard! He's managed to make this car go even faster than it already could go!'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'and I've been taking loads of notes while he and Nitta-san worked on it. I think I've learned more about mechanics in these past two days than in the month or so I've been working at the shop.'

'Don't let Masashi-san hear that,' Yuuichi advised then, frowning more due to the fact that Bunta was drifting yet again than for what he'd actually remembered, he said, 'speaking of whom, Shinobu-san said that he and a few of the Firebolts are going to Myogi in two weeks time…'

'Myogi?' Bunta asked him.

'Yeah, that mountain pass I told you about,' Yuuichi replied, 'the one that red Leone comes from.'

'Ah, I remember,' Bunta said, 'you think they'll mind if we join them?'

'Not at all,' Yuuichi replied, 'in fact, Shinobu-san wanted me to ask you to come along. Maybe you can test the car there in a real race.'

'I'm not so sure,' Bunta said then, noticing his friend's shocked look, he added, 'after the last one, I kind of want to have a bit more time to prepare myself for the races.'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi started.

'I also need more time to settle a few things,' Bunta insisted, 'but we can go to Myogi as spectators only, can't we?'

'Of course,' Yuuichi replied.

'Great,' Bunta said then, allowing himself a tiny smile, he started pressing the accelerator pedal a bit further down, liking the fact that the engine seemed indeed to give a lot more power than before. In fact, it took him a lot less time to get down to the base where his uncle's Bellett was parked with both he and Nitta-san there waiting for them.

'How is it?' Eikichi asked him even though he knew the answer to that question just by looking at Yuuichi's complexion which seemed a little tiny bit on the green side.

'Brilliant,' Bunta replied with a huge grin, 'thanks a lot.'

'No problem,' Eikichi said returning the smile and patting him on the shoulder.

To both Yuuichi and Nitta-san that exchange seemed to regard a lot more than just the car and, for the first time in his life, Nitta-san thought that it was a pity Eikichi had never had kids for he would have probably been a great father but, yet again, maybe life had wanted to give Bunta to the old man so that he could have a second chance.

_To be continued…_


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Twenty_

On Saturday evening and as they had agreed, Yuuichi went with his Mazda to pick Fuka up from her place and, as soon as she had given him a quick peck on his cheek and had fastened her seatbelt, the young man drove off on his way to the new cafeteria that had just opened on the side of one of Shibukawa's main roads.

'So,' Fuka said, 'you guys aren't planning on racing tonight, are you?'

'Nope,' Yuuichi replied, 'Bunta doesn't feel like it and I don't want to leave you there all alone.'

'I wouldn't be alone,' Fuka pointed out then, seeing the way Yuuichi's head had turned sharply to look at her, she added, 'Bunta and the other guys are there, aren't they?'

'Yeah, I guess,' a not too convinced Yuuichi said before going back to pay attention on the road then, maybe thinking that he wouldn't notice, Fuka let out a very soft chuckle, 'what's so funny?' he asked, trying to keep an even tone of voice, failing miserably.

'You,' she replied sweetly, 'you're very cute when you're jealous.'

'I'm not jealous!' Yuuichi protested.

'You're not?' she then asked, getting suddenly serious.

'Er…' he tried realising that he had just messed up in a very bad way then, for some strange reason, he just couldn't bring himself to say what he wanted and the result was a very heavy silence falling upon them which lasted almost until they finally got to the car park where they saw Bunta's white 2000GT and Masashi's red Fairlady Z.

'You know,' Fuka said, 'I've been doing some thinking…'

Right, Yuuichi thought beginning to panic for if there was something a girl could say to scare a guy was that she had been 'doing some thinking' and maybe because of that, he felt definitely afraid when he asked:

'What about?'

'Us,' she replied making him feel even worse.

'What about us?' Yuuichi managed to choke out of his throat, surprised at himself that he was keeping a reasonably calm tone of voice.

'I mean, now that Seiko and Bunta are no longer together.'

'Do you want us to split up?' Yuuichi asked, feeling grateful they were stopped at the traffic lights just before the entrance of the cafeteria for, had it been otherwise, he would have probably crashed his car against something.

'Do you?' she then asked and that sent poor Yuuichi to such a confounded state that he no longer understood anything anymore.

'Of course not!' he replied nonetheless, 'why would I want to break up with you?'

'I don't know,' Fuka said and, for the first time, he noticed that her voice was trembling quite a lot and that made him take a good look at her, well, as good as the poor lighting coming from the traffic lights allowed him to, he could see that she was frowning and that she looked incredibly worried.

'Fuka,' he said using his most serious tone of voice, 'I like you a lot and I don't want us to break up, okay?'

'Are you sure?'

'One hundred percent,' Yuuichi replied firmly, 'now, don't ever suggest something as stupid as that again, okay?'

'Alright,' Fuka said smiling then, looking at the rear view mirror, she noticed that there were quite a few cars behind them, the drivers of which were using the horns in a vain attempt at trying to get Yuuichi to look at the traffic light that had just turned from red to green.

'Shoot,' he muttered, trying his best to enter the first gear as quickly as possible. He then stole a quick glance at the two very familiar looking cars, hoping that their drivers wouldn't have seen something as embarrassing as that so that he wouldn't have to explain himself.

It turned out that both Bunta and Masashi were inside the cafeteria, enjoying a quiet coffee before Shinobu and a few other members of the Akina Firebolts would join them.

'Hey there,' Yuuichi said taking a seat next to Bunta while Fuka did the same next to Masashi, 'how's it going?' he then asked looking at his best friend.

'Not too bad,' Bunta replied, 'looking forward to watching someone else race though.'

They then remained in silence for a short while until Masashi, probably feeling rather uncomfortable about it, started talking about that night's challenge. Apparently, the driver of the red Subaru Leone who had raced Shinobu in Akina had received a challenge from none other than Makoto Watanabe who, racing with his own Mitsubishi GTO, had a very good chance of winning, at least in Yuuichi's opinion.

'I don't think so,' Shinobu said, coming up to their table followed by a group of four other guys.

'Why not?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Because Shun Mitsuri's never lost in his home course,' Shinobu replied, 'he and his red Leone are an unbeatable pair in Myogi.'

'Are they now?' Bunta asked, not even bothering with hiding the sudden interest the whole thing had sparkled within him. Yuuichi had to make a huge effort not to burst out laughing: his best friend truly was a sucker when it came to challenges…

'We should get going,' Fuka half-whispered, feeling a tiny bit on the awkward side taking into consideration that she was now the only girl among a group of men. If only Seiko was there too, she thought feeling rather depressed. Thankfully, Yuuichi got up and everyone followed the young couple out of the restaurant and to the car park.

'Hey, happy couple,' Masashi teased them, 'you lead us, alright?'

'Yeah,' one of the Firebolts added, 'we don't want you to stop at any love hotel on our way there.'

Feeling supremely embarrassed, both Yuuichi and Fuka hurried to get back into the car and, not really knowing how he'd done it, Yuuichi managed to start the Capella's engine and, even more surprisingly, to roll it out of the car park without stalling it in the process.

'They're only joking,' he hurried to say the minute they were on their way to Myogi.

'I know,' Fuka replied, 'it's okay, I don't mind.'

'Good,' Yuuichi said, letting out a sigh of relief.

'I don't mind…' she repeated making him feel puzzled all over again. Was this a speciality of his girlfriend? To confuse him so much he wasn't capable of producing any coherent thoughts?

'Good,' he repeated too, just in case.

'…going to a love hotel,' she then added in an almost inaudible whisper and, again, it took Yuuichi all of his driving skills to make sure the car didn't swivel itself out of the road. He was so stunned that he didn't even think of how much the guys would take the piss out of him for losing it so badly.

'Er…' he tried then, clearing his throat a couple of times, he said, 'that's…well…if you want…I…'

Geez, he was so pathetic, he thought feeling rather desperate.

'I would prefer going somewhere else, you know, somewhere a bit more romantic but, if we can't…'

'Alright,' Yuuichi somehow managed to say, 'we'll think of something, okay?'

'Sure,' Fuka replied and, once again, the quiet reigned in the car, this time though, Yuuichi's mind was too busy trying to come up with a brilliant plan so that he, at long last, could lose his virginity. He was so distracted about this that only Fuka's warning saved him from skipping the exit they had to take in order to go to Myogi's legendary mountain pass.

Ten minutes later and a couple of cars behind, Bunta's brain was also very busy taking note of every single corner of the road they were now climbing after having left behind the red Subaru Leone which was parked at the base probably waiting for the black GTO to show up.

This pass was very different from Akina, Bunta thought, to begin with, the road seemed to be wider and its tarmac was in a much better condition. It was also a lot scarier since most of it ran along the very edge of the mountain, with a very sharp cliff and an almost flimsy looking guardrail serving as the only protection.

'Not too bad,' he muttered talking to his Toyota's steering wheel, 'not bad at all.'

Soon enough and after a sudden and short downhill section, they reached the mountain top's car park where, to Bunta's amazement, there seemed to be even more cars than at any of the Akina races he'd seen so far.

'Crowded, huh?' Masashi commented once they were all out of their cars, with Yuuichi feeling grateful that everyone was kept busy enough not to comment on his driving or the reason why he was looking so flustered.

'It is,' Bunta replied noncommittally, 'so,' he then added, 'this is an uphill race, huh?'

'Yeah,' Shinobu replied, 'apparently Watanabe requested it.'

It looked as though as he wanted to add something else but then, a sudden commotion made him stop talking so that he could pay attention to whatever was happening.

'It's started!' some guy from the public shouted shaking the small radio he had in his hand as he did so.

'Will you tell us what happens?' Masashi asked him.

'Sure,' the guy replied, 'if I didn't get it wrong, Mitsuri's taken the lead.'

'Of course he has!' someone else, a girl with a ridiculously short skirt said, 'Mitsuri-sama's the best in this road! Everyone knows that.'

The poor thing seemed so excited about the race that no one from the Akina Firebolts had the heart to inform her of the fact that Shinobu there had beaten the pants off her adored Mitsuri-sama just a few weeks before. In any case, it now seemed irrelevant for, according to the mid-point report, the Subaru had a nine seconds lead on the Mitsubishi.

'Watanabe's losing pretty badly,' Yuuichi commented to Bunta, leaning towards him so no one else could hear him, 'he wasn't that bad when he raced you, was he?'

'No,' Bunta replied, 'he's a fair driver. It must be that that girl's right. This Mitsuri fellow must be quite good in here. I wish I could race him…'

Yuuichi just let out a sigh, shaking his head as he did so. If Bunta were anymore predictable he would shave his beautiful hair off. He was about to comment on that when they all saw another horribly familiar car driving towards them.

'Oh shit,' Masashi said while stealing a quick look at Bunta who, obviously enough, had just seen the dark blue Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R which belonged to who was quickly becoming his worst enemy: Ken Kogashiwa.

'What is he doing in here?' Fuka asked, showing all of her contempt through her voice.

'It can't be helped,' Shinobu replied, 'this is a public road, after all,' he explained then, glancing at Bunta, he asked, 'what are you going to do?'

'Me?' Bunta asked back, 'I don't give a damn about him. As you said, this is a public road so, unless he bothers me…'

Bunta never finished the sentence for the Nissan stopped right next to where they stood and, rolling the window down, Ken Kogashiwa poked his head out of it and, with a very nasty looking smirk on his face, one he probably reserved for Bunta, he said:

'Oh, what a surprise, I didn't think I'd see you again…'

'Why not?' Bunta asked and Yuuichi and the guys couldn't help but to admire the very cool attitude displayed by their friend.

'I thought you would have retired,' Ken replied, 'you know, after our race.'

'Sorry to keep disappointing you,' Bunta said, 'but I won't stop racing till the day I die.'

'That can be arranged,' was Ken's very rude reply. So much so that everyone gasped hearing it. Masashi went even one step further and started making his way towards the Nissan only to be stopped by Bunta who, making a gesture with his hand indicated to him to stay out of it.

'If I didn't know better,' he said, 'I would take that as a threat.'

'You can take it as you will,' Ken countered, 'I don't know you but…'

'Alright,' Bunta replied even though Ken hadn't even had the time to formulate his question, 'let's settle this now, tonight.'

'Bunta…' Yuuichi started.

'Fine by me,' Ken said, 'as soon as the uphill battle ends, I'll be waiting for you there,' he added pointing at a certain point just outside the car park where, Bunta thought, maybe all the downhill races started from. Then, after getting a curt nod from Bunta, Ken just drove off, leaving everyone open-mouthed.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi tried again, 'I thought you didn't want to race…'

'I didn't,' Bunta conceded, 'but I have the feeling that unless I beat him fair and square I'll never see the end of it.'

'Bunta,' Shinobu intervened, 'I'm not sure you should race him.'

'Why not?' Bunta asked him, 'I know I don't know this road very well.'

'You don't know this road very well?' Masashi repeated sarcastically, 'you've never even been here before!' he then exclaimed.

'Not only that,' Shinobu said, 'but I don't think you're so naïve as to think he's going to race you fairly and squarely, are you?'

'I don't care what he does,' Bunta insisted, 'he can try as many dirty tricks as he wants: as long as I keep him firmly behind me I'll be fine.'

With that seemingly flawless reasoning, he beat any of the points any of the guys present there may have been able to come up with so, instead, they tried to concentrate their attention back at the battle which, by the way, was about to reach its end.

In fact, only five minutes later, they first heard then saw the two cars appearing around the corner which led to the short downhill section of the road with the Subaru still holding the lead of the race even though the Mitsubishi seemed to be tailing him.

'It seems like he's lost the gap he had,' Masashi commented, earning himself a glare courtesy of Mitsuri's fangirl making Bunta want to burst out laughing but deciding against it for he thought he would probably get slapped by her if he did so.

Right then, the Subaru had to veer all the way to the left side of the road in order to block what was the Mitsubishi's last and desperate attempt at overtaking him.

'He's fallen for it,' Bunta commented so cryptically that no one understood what he meant until they saw the Mitsubishi pulling towards the right and pushing itself through the gap which the Subaru had left open. Everyone then held their breath as the two cars levelled with each other just a few metres away from the finish line.

'I can't believe this!' the guy holding the radio shouted.

'I can't watch it,' the girl said covering her face with two shaky hands.

'He's won,' Shinobu said and that made the girl start whinnying so badly that he had to put his hand onto her shoulder to make her stop and look up at him, 'Mitsuru's won…'

'He has?' the girl asked then, following Shinobu's finger, she saw that her idol was indeed starting to climb out of his car so that he could go and celebrate his victory with a few of his mates, 'YES!' she shouted then, for no apparent reason, she kissed the poor Shinobu full on his mouth before she started running towards the red Leone.

'Uh-oh,' Masashi said, trying his best not to laugh, 'I know of someone who won't be too impressed about this.'

'Masashi,' Shinobu warned, 'if you, or anyone else for that matter, mention this to Momoko...'

'Hey,' one of the Firebolts hurried to say, 'Shinobu-san, we won't say a word. We promise, don't we?' he then added looking at Masashi intently who, not trusting himself to speak for he was really having trouble containing his mirth, just managed to nod to that.

'I shall get going then,' Bunta announced all of a sudden and those five words managed to kill any humour that anyone had been feeling. Then, all of them including the radio-guy, followed him towards where Mitsuri was and once there, they saw that Ken was also about to ask the local racer for his permission for him and Bunta to race there.

'You two want to race?' Mitsuri asked looking at both Ken and Bunta.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, feeling an almost childish satisfaction that he'd managed to get ahead of his rival, even if it was just by answering first.

'Alright,' Mitsuri said, 'I don't think anyone has anything against it, do you guys?' he then asked talking to the crowd who, predictably enough, expressed their happiness at having an extra race to watch, even if said race was with two relatively unknown drivers.

'I'll go and get my car,' Bunta said talking to Yuuichi, 'what are you guys going to do?'

'We'll start driving down after you two take off,' Shinobu replied instead while Yuuichi express his agreement by nodding to that. He was happy that the Akina Firebolts' leader had already suggested following right after the two cars, just in case that Kogashiwa fellow tried anything funny.

At long last, and with the road once more clear of both people and cars, the Nissan and the Toyota were, for the second time ever, lined up against each other with both racers preparing themselves for the battle.

'Take it easy alright?' Yuuichi told his friend, 'we've just finished…'

'Be quiet,' Bunta interrupted him, pointing at the Nissan with his head then, whispering, he said, 'I don't want him to know what we've done to the car.'

'I get you,' Yuuichi said then, patting him on the shoulder, he walked back to where Fuka was so that the two of them could watch the start of the race and then, as they had agreed, run to their cars so that they could all follow Bunta.

Not even two minutes later, Mitsuri's fangirl placed herself in front of the two cars and, holding a pink handkerchief in her hand, she lifted her arm and started counting down from ten then, instead of shouting the more traditional 'go', she just dropped the piece of cloth onto the ground.

Right then, Bunta floored the accelerator so that he could get ahead of the Nissan in what was the very short but steep uphill part of the road and, for the umpteenth time, he felt immensely grateful for all the hard work his uncle had put into improving the car's performance.

'We can do this,' he said to his Toyota.

Bunta could have sworn that the car's engine had understood him for, right at that instant, and with very little input from his side, the 2000GT seemed to decide to go even faster making its driver smile in the process. He definitely loved this car, he loved racing and he just loved being alive.

Just then, he realised that he wasn't so upset about Seiko's departure anymore and, again, he felt fortunate that he had so many things in his life which prevented him from being depressed for too long.

He simply could not lose this battle, Bunta thought as he entered the first of the downhill corners, drifting all the way through it, noticing with pleasure that the Nissan's headlights were a lot further away he had originally planned.

With a bit of luck, things would stay the same throughout the whole race.

_To be continued…_


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Twenty One_

After just a couple of corners Bunta decided to check the rear view mirror again and, to his most profound astonishment, he saw that the Nissan was getting closer making him think that maybe he'd been a bit too optimistic and that it was more than obvious that Ken had been working on his car too.

This was very bad news for Bunta and, distracted by this very worrying thought, he entered a particularly sharp right-hander noticing that his car was a tad off what he believed was the ideal line to tackle that particular corner.

'Damn,' he muttered to himself while he fought with the steering wheel in order to get the Toyota right where he wanted it to be and, probably due to all the nervousness he was beginning to feel, he remembered a conversation he'd had with his uncle just a few days before.

The two of them had been testing yet another modification the old man had done to the 2000GT's suspensions when Eikichi started chuckling.

'What's so funny?' Bunta had said trying not to sound as offended as he felt.

'You,' Eikichi replied, 'and the way you drive.'

'What's wrong with it?' Bunta asked sounding more curious than upset for he really was grateful every time his uncle graced him with some sort of feedback.

'Where's your focus?' Eikichi then asked him, making him feel very confused.

'My…my focus?' Bunta stuttered.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'I've noticed that you're looking everywhere except to where you're supposed to look.'

'And that's where?' Bunta asked him.

'The road,' Eikichi replied flatly, 'your attention should be focused only on the road ahead of you.'

'But…'

'The rest is not important,' Eikichi insisted, 'now, I want you to drive watching only the first few corners you have ahead of you, focus all your attention on every single inch of the road and think of what you can do to make the car interact better with it.'

'O-okay,' Bunta replied even though he was unsure he'd understood the concept but, for the sake of not looking like a complete moron, he did exactly what his uncle had just instructed him to do and, to his utter surprise, he found that by doing something as simple as that, his performance improved radically.

'See? I told you,' Eikichi said with an amused smirk on his lips, 'you're already driving faster.'

Just as he'd done in Akina that night, Bunta decided to ignore everything, the rear view mirror, the tachometer, forgetting about anything which wasn't the stretch of the road which he had immediately in front of him and, just as it had happened back then, he felt that the car was beginning to go faster.

'That crazy old man…' he muttered to himself with a small smile curving his lips.

Had he checked the rear view mirror, Bunta would have seen that the distance between his car and that of Ken's was beginning to increase one more time and, soon enough, he found himself cruising down the mountain pass literally by himself.

Just like at Akina.

Meanwhile, inside the Nissan, Ken Kogashiwa felt that his frustration and embarrassment were mounting at an alarmingly fast rate: how on earth did this guy drive so freaking fast on a road he virtually didn't know?

Or did he? Ken thought to himself.

'Of course he does!' he suddenly exclaimed hitting the steering wheel with his right hand. He'd been tricked! There was no other way that Fujiwara brat could be this fast unless he had mastered this road which, after all, wasn't all that far from Akina making it very possible for him to come here and practice at least once a week.

He'll pay for this, a furious Ken decided, pressing the accelerator of his Nissan so far down that it actually touched the car's floor. Then, travelling at a nearly suicidal speed, he started pursuing an invisible enemy, feeling even more anxious for there was nothing worse than driving without being certain of what laid ahead.

Ken caught sight of the white Toyota just a few corners before the course's finish line and what he saw confirmed his worst suspicions: the way Bunta was handling his car made it very clear that he had a lot of experience on this road.

'Fucking bastard,' Ken shouted and, just then, he made the decision that he would get past him no matter what it took. Right then, he noticed that on the side of the road, covered by the first leaves which had started to fall, there was a very small gutter, more or less as deep as the ones which ran along the section of the road before the three bridges at Irohazaka.

With a smirk, he also realised that for some reason, probably overconfidence, Bunta wasn't using the gutter to go faster so he was double happy when he hooked the right hand side tyres of his car, allowing him to clear the corner a lot quicker than he'd seen Bunta do and, soon enough, he found himself within attacking distance of the 2000GT's rear bumper.

'I got you,' Ken muttered to himself as he forced his GT-R's engine to give him all it had in order to, at long last, close the gap between the two cars. He then followed Bunta into a left-hander and was about to think of a way to get past him when he realised something which killed his smile instantly:

They had already reached the finish line and Bunta had crossed it just before he had.

Ken Kogashiwa felt so depressed that he almost forgot to brake, doing so just in time to avoid a frontal collision against the back of the 2000GT. In any case, he really didn't feel like getting out of the car so, instead, he entered the reverse gear, pulled away from Bunta's car and, inserting the first gear, he drove it around it and towards Bunta's side.

Once there, he stopped the Nissan trapping his opponent inside the Toyota then, leaning towards the passenger's window, he rolled it down and signalled for Bunta to do the same with his.

'Hey…' he started saying.

'Shut up,' Ken shouted shaking his fist furiously, 'you had loads of fun tonight, didn't you?'

'Er…' Bunta started, looking very confused.

'I hope you did,' Ken continued, 'because mark my words: from now on, it'll be me the one who'll be making fun of you!'

He then saw that Bunta started frowning but, before the younger guy had the time to come up with anything, Ken floored the accelerator leaving amidst a cloud of smoke which smelled of burnt rubber.

'What in the heck?' Bunta asked to himself as he started to climb out of his car staring at the quickly disappearing dark blue Nissan then, shaking his head, he decided to give up trying to understand Kogashiwa's behaviour for, he was sure, it would probably be easier trying to figure out the origin of the universe…

'Hey! Are you alright?' he heard a very familiar sounding voice ask and, turning round, he saw the very worried looking faces of Shinobu and Masashi.

'Yeah,' a grinning Bunta replied, 'why wouldn't I be?'

'No reason…I guess…' Masashi replied returning the smile. Soon enough, all three men were joined by Yuuichi, Fuka, the two other Firebolts that had come to the race and the rest of the public, including a very impressed Shun Mitsuri.

'Hey, what's your name again?' he asked Bunta.

'Fujiwara Bunta,' he replied.

'Alright, Fujiwara Bunta,' Shun said, 'I'll remember that.'

'Why?' Bunta dared to ask, hoping this guy wouldn't want to add himself to the growing list of people who considered themselves Bunta's rivals, especially if said rivals were as messed up as that Kogashiwa character seemed to be.

'Well,' Shun replied, 'it's not every day some kid breaks my home course's record,' then, before Bunta could bring himself to say anything, Shun turned towards Shinobu and, smiling at him in a very odd way, he added, 'I see now that you're going to be leaving Akina in very good hands.'

With that, the Leone's driver just turned round and started walking away from the group of open-mouthed people followed by his team mates and quite a few fan-girls, one of them being the one who'd kissed Shinobu just before the start of Bunta's race.

Five minutes later and with the public having started to make their way back towards their cars, both Bunta and Yuuichi were about to do the same when they were all stopped by Masashi's question:

'Shinobu-san,' he said, 'what was all of that about?'

'Not now Masashi,' Shinobu replied, 'let's wait till we get back to Akina.'

'What's going on?' one of the Firebolts asked.

'Guys,' Shinobu insisted, 'let's go back to Akina first.'

'What's the matter?' Yuuichi then asked, blatantly ignoring the Akina Firebolts' leader order for, at this point, he was probably too worried or curious or both to care about the fact that he was speaking to a guy who he almost worshipped.

'It's nothing important,' Shinobu lied.

'If it's nothing important,' Bunta interrupted him, 'why do we have to wait till we get back home?'

The Akina Firebolts' leader looked around himself for a short moment noticing that everyone was staring at him inquisitively and, realising that he probably didn't have any other option, he let out a long sigh and said:

'Alright, I wanted the whole team to be together for this.'

'Shinobu-san…' Masashi intervened, looking suddenly as though as he no longer wanted to know for he was afraid of hearing what he heard next.

'I'm quitting the team.'

'YOU'RE WHAT?' everyone shouted at the same time making Shinobu take a couple of steps backwards, just in case.

'You can't quit!' Masashi exclaimed with such a horrified expression on his face that it made Bunta feel like bursting out laughing only that, being as smart as he was, he thought that it probably was a very bad idea to do that right now.

'Masashi,' Shinobu said putting a hand on his younger team-mate, 'I've been thinking about quitting for quite a while and…'

'You have?' Masashi asked him before the knot on his throat would prevent him from uttering any more words.

'Yes,' he replied, 'I'm twenty six years old and, as you all know, Momoko and I have been together since high school.'

'Shinobu-san,' Masashi interrupted him, 'she's not asking you to quit, is she?'

'No,' Shinobu, with infinite patience replied, 'it's not her who's making me quit, it's me. Momoko and I have been talking about getting married for a long time and, well…'

'Wow,' Fuka gasped, 'that's so romantic!'

'It is,' Masashi agreed, 'but why do you have to quit? A couple of the guys from the team are married and they're still racing.'

'Momoko's pregnant,' Shinobu finally confessed, 'no body knows yet, not even her parents.'

It was Bunta's turn to gasp as he felt for his car so that he could lean against it for support. Things definitely happened fast in this place! Bunta thought while remembering when, as a kid, he'd been on a school trip outside of Tokyo thinking of how boring things seemed to be.

'…that's the main reason why we have to rush things this much,' Shinobu continued, 'but like I already said, I think it's just accelerating something we both have wanted for quite a while. As you can all imagine, with a baby on the way, I no longer feel like risking my life in these street races.'

'I understand,' Masashi said, letting out a sigh loaded with resignation then, looking as though as he'd just remembered something, he asked, 'Mitsuri seemed to know about this.'

'He did,' Shinobu replied, 'I told him just before our race that it was going to be my last and I asked him to give me the best he had so I could have a good memory of it.'

'I see…'

'Masashi,' Shinobu said, 'I wanted for all the Firebolts to be here when I did this but, since you guys have given me no option, I'll have to do it like this.'

'What…' Masashi started as he and everyone else observed Shinobu pulling out of the front pocket of his trousers the keys of his car and, taking it off, he handed Masashi a gold, bolt shaped key-ring with the word Akina engraved on it. Having this key-ring was the prerogative of the Akina Firebolt's leader.

'Shinobu-san…'

'From now on, if you accept that is, you're our new leader,' Shinobu said to a stunned looking Masashi who, by the way, could only bring himself to glance from the key-ring he held on the palm of his hand to Shinobu's highly amused looking face.

'That's great!' Yuuichi exclaimed, letting go of Fuka's hand so that he could go and pat the shoulder of the completely astounded looking twenty one year old mechanic.

'B-but….'

'Masashi,' one of the two other Firebolts present said, 'we agree with Shinobu-san, of all people in the team, you're the best suited to lead us all.'

'But…'

'What's with that 'but-but' business?' Bunta asked then, smirking in a very Bunta-like way, he added, 'I think you should just thank Shinobu-san for trusting you with the job.'

'Of course,' Masashi said, his brain finally able to start forming coherent thoughts, 'I'm not sure if I'm going to be a good leader but…'

'You're welcome,' Shinobu interrupted him exchanging a wink with Bunta who was now smiling so widely that it made him add, 'now that you're the leader, you may manage to convince this rascal here to join us.'

Predictably enough, that managed to kill Bunta's smile instantly and just then, they all started laughing out loud seeing the way Bunta put his hands behind his neck and, feigning as much nonchalance as possible, he started walking away from the group, whistling as he did so.

'Right,' Masashi said, 'I don't know why but I really don't think that's going to happen, at least not in this lifetime.'

They all started laughing again and, it took several minutes before everyone went back to their cars so that they could drive back to Shibukawa where, as they had agreed, they would join the rest of the Firebolts so that they could share the news with them too.

'Yuuichi,' Fuka said during the ride back home.

'Yes?' the young man asked.

'I think that you should try to convince Bunta to join the Firebolts,' she replied.

'I don't think so,' Yuuichi countered.

'Why not?' Fuka asked, 'I mean, I know you two want to race on your own but…now that Masashi's in charge of the team…'

'I get what you're saying,' Yuuichi said, 'I seriously do but, I just don't think Bunta can drive for a team.'

'Why not?' Fuka repeated.

'Because he's not suited for that kind of thing,' Yuuichi explained, 'at first I thought that it was what he'd said, you know, that he wanted to get more experience but…the way I see it, the longer he drives and the better he gets, the less likely he'll want to join any team.'

'But…'

'Fuka,' Yuuichi said, 'I think I've finally figured him out and, let me tell you this: Bunta's destiny is beyond any of our dreams. He's got real talent and I think he's going to be a great racer.'

'What do you mean?' Fuka asked.

'I mean that he can do it,' Yuuichi replied, 'if nothing gets on his way, he'll become a professional driver and, knowing this makes me think I shouldn't interfere too much with his decisions.'

'But…' Fuka started.

'Look, right now, I'm his best friend,' Yuuichi replied, 'I don't know why but I feel very grateful that he allows me to hang around with him. I don't know why…half of this doesn't make any sense to me but, in a way, I'm very happy that I got to meet him.'

Meanwhile Bunta, who had chosen to drive ahead of everybody else, was thinking about what would happen to the Firebolts now that Shinobu-san was retiring when he reached the top of the mountain's pass, noticing that something, or rather, someone, was causing quite a commotion.

'What's going on?' Shinobu asked as soon as they all got out of their cars and walked to where a beautiful dark gold Mazda was parked the driver of which, a guy in his thirties, stood there, refusing to leave its side.

'Takao-san!' Bunta exclaimed.

'You know him?' Masashi asked.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied instead of his best friend then, he turned to face Takao when he noticed that the guy from Tokyo sported a very grave expression on his face, 'what's wrong?'

'Where's Yoshiki-san?' Bunta also asked.

'I'm sorry…' Takao started then, something prevented him from carrying on and, he seemed to need a few instants to collect his thoughts before he could try again, 'I'm here to deliver a message.'

'What's the matter?' a definitely worried Bunta asked.

'I told him it was a bad idea,' Takao said, looking almost as if he was talking to himself, 'but he still wanted to race that guy at the Wangan.'

'Takao-san,' Bunta interrupted him, 'has anything happened to Yoshiki-san?'

Everyone watched him as Takao nodded a couple of times then, looking at Bunta with a huge amount of pain showing though his expression while he clearly fought with himself so that he would gather the courage he needed to say:

'He lost control of the car just as he was chasing that fucking bastard. He was going at over two hundred kilometres an hour and there wasn't anything which could be done,' Takao stopped for just a brief instant before continuing, 'I got to him just in time for him to ask me to tell you that he was sorry he hadn't managed to make it to his race here.'

The guy then covered his face with a very shaky hand as he tried to conceal the fact that he was beginning to cry then, giving his back to everyone, he opened the door of his Mazda and, just before climbing into it, he added:

'Kiddo, I've known Yoshiki-san for over fifteen years and I've never seen him any more eager to race anybody, he really was sorry that he wasn't going to race you here.'

'Takao-san…' a very distraught Bunta started.

'I'm going to retire from racing,' Takao announced, 'now that Yoshiki-san's dead, there's no point for me to carry on doing it.'

With that, and before anyone had the time to do or say anything at all, Takao closed the door of his Mazda and, within a few instants, he was gone, driving downhill so fast that it made them all want to jump into their cars so that they could start following him, in case he tried to kill himself or something.

_To be continued…_


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Twenty Two _

Half of the Firebolts were already on their way to their cars when they all stopped right where they were when they heard Yuuichi's shy but firm voice asking them not to go after Takao. Bunta, who was amongst them, was surprised to hear such a firm determination coming from his classmate.

'He's not going to do anything stupid,' Yuuichi insisted.

'Yuuichi…' Masashi started.

'Masashi-san,' Yuuichi said, 'trust me on this one. I don't know why but I don't think he's going to kill himself.'

'I think I agree with you,' Shinobu intervened, 'I also think that the guy probably needs his privacy right now,' he added and, after hearing that, everyone seemed to decide to let the whole thing be, 'in any case,' he said after thinking about it for a while, 'I have something I need to tell you…'

As it was to be expected, the Firebolts' reaction to the news about their leader's intentions of quitting the team were more or less a copy of what had already happened at Myogi: some were surprised, some were upset but everyone shared the feeling of having just been orphaned.

'What's with the long faces?' Shinobu asked trying to brighten things up, 'I really believe Masashi's going to be a great leader. I chose him because I can't think of anyone else who is more dedicated to the team as he is, can you guys?'

Once again, everyone nodded their agreement to their leader's statement, making Masashi realise just how much charisma the seemingly quiet Shinobu had and this fact made him feel very inadequate for the job.

'I…' he hesitated then, steeling himself, he said, 'I don't know what to say.'

Bunta let out an amused chuckle which earned him a glare from Masashi then, the new Firebolts' leader saw the guy's mischievous smirk and that made him realise that, as usual, Bunta was just trying to wind him up. He also noticed that the guys from the team were beginning to laugh too.

'Well,' Shinobu said, 'I'm going to give these to you now,' he added handing to Masashi the small pile of the Akina Firebolts stickers that he always kept in his car, 'take care of them, it cost me quite a lot of money to get them made.'

'I will,' Masashi promised then, issuing what was his first order as the new leader, he said, 'alright guys, what do you think if we do a descent in formation to thank Shinobu-san for all the years of guidance he's given us?'

'YES!' they all shouted and then, everyone re-started making their way to their cars, including Bunta, Yuuichi and Fuka who seemed to be a lot quieter than usual.

'I wish I was a guy,' she said once they were all travelling down the road, following the long column of cars.

'Why?' Yuuichi asked frowning for he definitely wouldn't want that.

'Because I'd love to be able to be part of a team like this one,' Fuka explained, 'you guys are so cool.'

'Fuka,' Yuuichi said, 'I'm not part of the team and, besides, the fact that you're a girl doesn't mean you can't be a racer.'

'You wouldn't mind if I became one?' Fuka asked him and Yuuichi realised a tad too late that she'd probably tricked him into this and that he'd fallen for it like a silly little boy.

'Er…'

'Just kidding,' Fuka said, 'I'm a fair driver but I'm not good enough to do what you guys do so, don't worry, I prefer being your number one supporter.'

Yuuichi felt like he'd just grown about a couple of inches taller and, for some reason, he drove all the way back to Shibukawa with a stupid smile curving his lips, feeling too happy to remember that that night the Tokyo street racing scene had just lost a great racer.

Bunta though hadn't forgotten about it and, as he stepped into the shop's working area, he couldn't help but to look saddened that he would never see one of his very first rivals ever again.

'What's wrong with you?' Eikichi asked Bunta, seeing his nephew's dark expression.

'Uncle,' he said, 'when you were actively racing, did anyone you knew die?'

That definitely took Eikichi by surprise and, putting down the large soy milk container he was currently carrying towards the tofu maker, he crossed his arms onto his broad chest and, very slowly, he nodded a couple of times.

'Bunta,' he started, 'back then cars weren't anywhere near as safe as they're beginning to be now, if you crashed while going fast, it was almost guaranteed that you would kill yourself. Has anything happened to one of your friends?'

'He wasn't my friend really,' Bunta replied shaking his head once, 'do you remember about that racer from Tokyo?'

'That Yoshiki?' Eikichi asked.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'he killed himself while racing at the Wangan.'

Eikichi frowned as he said, 'I remember the day when they inaugurated that expressway. I've always said that it was way too straight...' he then stopped speaking, pinched the bridge of his nose and then, he looked at Bunta again and said, 'I want you to promise me something: never go and race there, no matter what.'

'Don't worry about it,' Bunta assured him, 'I don't like straights very much, I prefer driving around sharp corners.'

That made Eikichi's frown disappear and, instead, it got replaced by a smile as the older man let out a soft chuckle then, he did something he virtually never did: he tousled Bunta's hair as he walked past the teenager on the way to the living room.

'Come on in, I'm sure you're hungry.'

The following Monday it felt almost weird having to get up to go to school but, as Bunta kept reminding himself, that was the start of his very last term of high school and, for some reason, he felt very relieved about that for he simply could not wait to finish it so that he could start thinking of his future.

'What's going on?' he asked Yuuichi as the two of them walked down one of the school's corridors, noticing that everyone seemed to be very excited about something.

'Don't you know?' Yuuichi asked him back.

'Er…obviously not,' Bunta replied, 'what's up?'

'Bunta,' an amused Yuuichi started, 'do you ever pay attention when the principal talks to us?'

'No if I can help it, why?'

'The school's organising the end of the summer festival,' Yuuichi explained, 'as class representative I'm in charge of making sure everyone contributes with something. We're supposed to…ah…'

'Yuuichi?' Bunta said stopping walking noticing that Yuuichi had remained behind, 'what's wrong?'

'Er…' his best friend hesitated, 'I…well…'

'You're getting me worried now,' an annoyed looking Bunta said, 'what's the matter?'

'Well,' Yuuichi hesitated again, 'is just that…we third years…well…'

'You want to tell me already or do you want me to punch it out of you?' Bunta asked him, raising his fist as he spoke, just to prove his point.

'No, no,' Yuuichi hurried to say putting his hands up, 'it's just that we're supposed to do something with our parents and…'

'…and I have no parents,' Bunta finished for him, putting his arm down allowing himself to look slightly depressed.

'You could ask your uncle if…'

'Right,' Bunta cut him off sarcastically, 'what can I do with him? Mechanics? Tofu making?'

'That's an idea,' Yuuichi said.

'What is?' Bunta asked.

'Tofu making,' Yuuichi replied.

'I was joking!' Bunta complained.

'I'm not,' Yuuichi insisted, 'Miyazaki's family run a manju stand and they're going to be selling them at the festival.'

'Er…I don't know,' Bunta hesitated, 'I don't think my uncle's up for this kind of things anyway…'

'Asking him is not going to hurt, is it?' Yuuichi said then, stealing a quick glance at his wristwatch, he added, 'we better hurry or we'll be late!'

The first day of school went by fairly quickly, it helped that they didn't have any formal lessons to attend but, in any case, it felt good being able to go back home at the end of the day, even if he had to make part of the way back to the shop with Yuuichi and his two childhood friends, Miyazaki and Mitsui.

'Guys,' Miyazaki said, 'guess who got a nice love letter today?'

'Shut up Miyazaki,' an angry Mitsui complained.

'Who did you get it from?' Yuuichi asked, completely ignoring the way his schoolmate glared at him all the while Bunta just laughed, not even trying to hide his amusement that this whole thing was causing him.

'That Nakayama girl did,' Miyazaki replied, 'she's not too bad: you're lucky!'

'Argh!' Mitsui protested, 'I…'

'You should go out with her,' Yuuichi said, again seemingly oblivious to the guy's embarrassment, 'she's one of the cutest girls in the second year.'

'Why don't you go out with her then?' Mitsui asked him.

'Because I already have a girlfriend,' Yuuichi replied.

'Ah, that's right,' Mitsui said, looking very happy to have been handed such a great way to remove the focus off his own love life, 'so, tell us, how far have you gone with her?'

'That's none of your business,' Yuuichi replied, trying to ignore the highly inquisitive look Bunta was now giving him, 'in any case, it'd be great if you and Nakayama got together before the festival…'

The mention of the event made Bunta's smile vanish and he didn't even flinch when Miyazaki put an arm around his shoulders saying something about the fact that if Mitsui got himself a girlfriend it would leave the two of them as the only single ones in the group.

'I'm home!' Bunta exclaimed while he entered the shop, realising that he was talking to no one since the place seemed to be empty. Where in the heck was that crazy old man? Bunta asked himself. The answer to that question appeared in the form of a note telling him that Eikichi would be out for the best part of the evening.

After getting changed and eating some of the stew his uncle had prepared for him, Bunta decided to go up to his room so he could just lay on his bed while he waited for Eikichi to come back home.

'Bunta?' he heard the older man's voice say through the door, waking him up feeling rather shocked that he'd fallen asleep and that it was nearly midnight, 'Bunta, are you there?' his uncle repeated.

'Yeah,' the teenager replied, 'I'm here,' he said opening the door after having jumped out of his bed, 'you just got home?' he then asked, trying not to sound too prying.

'Yep,' Eikichi replied, 'I'm a bit behind schedule with the tofu and I'll need you to help me with it.'

'Sure,' Bunta said and then, he followed his uncle down the stairs and towards the tofu shop's working area where, soon enough, both Fujiwaras started preparing that night's deliveries, with Bunta feeling quite happy that he had such a good chance to speak to his uncle, 'er…' he started.

'What's up?'

'Listen,' Bunta said, 'I don't want you to feel like you've got to do it or anything but…'

'Bunta,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I should think that, by now, you should be able to ask me anything so, stop going around in circles and tell me what you need already.'

'Okay,' Bunta agreed then, taking a deep breath, he said as fast as he could, 'there's a festival at school and the students are supposed to bring their parents with them to do stuff and…' he stopped seeing the way Eikichi was looking at him, '…yeah, bad idea, huh? It's alright, I…I could…'

'I'll be happy to help you at the festival,' his uncle interrupted him, 'what do you want us to do?'

'Er…' Bunta hesitated then, remembering Yuuichi's words and after staring at the tofu cubes which he was currently putting into the wooden boxes, he said, 'we could sell tofu.'

'Tofu?' Eikichi asked him.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'Miyazaki's father owns a manju shop and they're going to sell them.'

'I see,' Eikichi said, 'but Bunta, manju is something you can take away and eat while you take a walk around the school. Tofu…well, you've got to cook it first and…'

'We could sell fried tofu,' Bunta suggested, 'I've always wondered how come you don't sell the tofu in any other way than like this,' he added pointing at the raw tofu which was now in the boxes used for the deliveries.

'What do you mean?' Eikichi asked.

'I mean that you could open the shop for the public too, instead of just selling it to the hotels and to the local restaurants,' Bunta said, 'this way you'd get more income, wouldn't you?'

The older man found himself staring at his nephew looking rather surprised to see that his nephew seemed to use his brain a lot more than it looked like then, thinking about what Bunta had just said, he nodded a couple of times.

'You're right,' he conceded, 'and I'll tell you what we're going to do. I'm going to go tomorrow and get a deep fryer and we'll start making the fried tofu here. If it tastes good enough, we'll start selling it at your school's festival.'

'Okay,' Bunta said smiling at his uncle while feeling immensely relieved. Laughing with Eikichi when the older man commented that if Bunta didn't know what else to do with his life, he could always help him running the shop…

This conversation, together with the fact that he was about to finish high school, made Bunta start considering something very scary: what did he want to do in the future? He hadn't given the subject much of a thought but, for the first time in his life, Bunta realised that he really needed to start thinking about it for, at eighteen years of age it was now time to make some decisions.

'Hello? Is anyone home?' Yuuichi asked him when, a few days later, the two of them were walking towards the usual bathroom where Mitsui and Miyazaki always hid from the teachers so that they could smoke.

'Yes, sorry,' Bunta said, 'what were you saying?'

'Nothing important,' Yuuichi replied, 'what's up with you? You've been spacing out quite a lot recently.'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta said, 'what are you going to do once you finish high school?'

'Me?' Yuuichi asked, 'I'm the only son in the family so I'll have to take over my dad's business. Why are you asking?'

'I don't know what I'm going to do,' Bunta said, 'I mean, I could be a mechanic or…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi interrupted him stopping all of a sudden, 'what in the heck are you talking about?'

'Er…'

'You can't become a mechanic!' Yuuichi exclaimed, scaring a couple of first year girls who happened to be walking by, 'you've got to become a professional racer!'

'What?' Bunta asked, 'me? A professional racer?'

'Duh,' Yuuichi said, 'of course you idiot! What else do you want to be?'

'But…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'you've got God-given driving skills, you've beaten every single one of the opponents you've raced against and you…well, you could even aim for an international rallying team, you know.'

'Wait a minute,' Bunta said forming a wall with his hands, 'that's a bit of an exaggeration here, isn't it?'

'No,' Yuuichi replied firmly, 'that's what I thought you wanted to do anyway.'

'When did I say anything about becoming a pro?' Bunta asked him crossing his arms onto his chest defensively for Yuuichi's astounded expression was quickly turning into an angry looking one.

'What else do you want to be?' Yuuichi asked frowning in disbelief.

'I don't know,' Bunta replied shrugging, 'I haven't thought about it seriously.'

'Well, you better,' Yuuichi commented, 'we'll be graduating soon and you should figure out what you want to do with your life.'

'I know that,' Bunta said with an almost childish-looking pout, 'it's just that it's not so easy, you know.'

'It is: you've got to become a professional racer,' Yuuichi countered then, probably deciding that talking to Bunta when he was this stubborn was more or less as productive as talking to a wall, he just shook his head and started walking towards the bathroom.

A week after this, Eikichi and Bunta Fujiwara were clearing up the small stand they had used to sell their fried tofu during the school's festival with the older man looking rather impressed by the meagre amount of tofu they had left.

'I can't believe we've sold this much,' he commented while loading the last couple of the boxes in the Bellett's trunk, 'we've made quite a lot of money in a very short time.'

'It's a pity that half of it has to go towards funding the end of the year trip,' Bunta commented smiling happily.

'Hey, you should be happy you're having one,' Eikichi said, 'back in my time, all we got was a handshake and the teacher's best wishes for our future…speaking of which, have you already decided what to do?'

'Oh,' Bunta complained, 'can you people stop stressing me about this?' he asked and, noticing the weird look on his uncle's face, he realised that he'd been a tad on the rude side with him so, taking a deep breath, he added, 'look, I…'

'It's alright,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'it's your life, do whatever you want with it.'

With that, the older man walked around his Isuzu, opening the driver's side door and climbing behind the steering wheel, 'I'll see you back home,' he added while he started the car's engine then, without saying anything else, he just drove off leaving a very confused Bunta behind.

'What's with this people?' he muttered to himself, unaware that Yuuichi, Miyazaki and Mitsui were standing nearby.

'He's talking to himself now,' Miyazaki pointed out, covering his mouth as he spoke to his two classmates but speaking loud enough so that Bunta could hear him.

'Hey Bunta,' Mitsui said, clearly ignoring Miyazaki's attempt at making fun of Bunta, 'that uncle of yours is brilliant, you should have brought him to the school a long time ago.'

Poor Bunta was almost grateful when the day was over and, after eating dinner with his uncle who thankfully didn't mention anything about their previous conversation, Bunta decided to get into his car and do what he always did when he was nervous about something: going for a drive so that he could clear his mind and calm down enough so that he could think.

At first, he thought of going to Akina so that he could practice a few new moves he'd dreamed about but then, for some strange reason, he found himself in the small provincial motorway driving west towards the neighbouring prefecture of Nagano and, soon enough, he saw it:

The magnificent but menacing looking Mt Usui where, according to Masashi, there was one of the most dangerous and exciting passes in the whole of Gunma.

'We'll soon find out,' Bunta muttered to himself.

_To be continued…_


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Twenty Three_

Within only three hours of being there and while Bunta was enjoying some canned coffee, he decided that Masashi had not exaggerated one bit when describing this road for, even though it wasn't very steep, its rapid succession of tight corners made it a very exciting pass indeed.

So, after having left his car safely parked behind a barrier which was probably used to close the road to the traffic during the winter, he walked towards the outer guardrail so that he could look down the valley, seeing that a very thick forest covered everything except the narrow strip of asphalt which formed the road.

It truly was a beautiful place and he made a mental note to come back here during the day so that he could admire the view properly then, leaning against the guardrail and taking a sip of the still warm coffee, he started thinking of everything that had happened to him in these past few weeks.

His life had changed so much since the day his parents had died that he didn't even recognise himself. To begin with, he was there in a strange place, in the middle of the night and completely alone and, for the first time in days, he found himself thinking of Seiko.

What was she doing right now? Bunta thought realising that, for some reason, he no longer felt pain remembering her, only some degree of concern and a good deal of curiosity.

'Oh well…' he muttered to himself as he checked his watch using the dim light the moon offered, shocked to see that it was nearly half past two in the morning and that, unless he left soon, he'd be late for the tofu delivery and that was an appointment he definitely didn't want to miss.

Finishing his drink in one long gulp, Bunta crushed the can in his fist and found a bin where to dispose of it and then, he was about to turn round to make his way back to his car when he heard another car's engine that, by the sound of it, was coming from somewhere uphill.

For some unknown reason, Bunta remained right where he was at the edge of the road where, soon enough, he saw a very small vehicle racing towards him and only his street-racing's trained eyes allowed him to appreciate that, whoever was driving that car, definitely knew what he was doing.

A fraction of an instant later, the car darted past and away from him as it continued his dash down the road, going so tremendously fast that Bunta didn't even catch the brand of the car even though it looked a lot like an old spider version of the Daihatsu Compagno.

It took Bunta's brain a full five seconds before it issued him the instruction of running towards his Toyota so that he could follow the other car, something within himself wanting to know who in the heck that insanely fast driver was.

By the time he got back to the 2000GT, climbed into it and started its engine, a full twenty seconds had passed and knowing that he'd had to push it a bit in order to catch up with the small car, he pressed the accelerator almost as much as he did while driving during a race.

'Where in the hell are you?' Bunta asked to no one in particular when, ten corners later and despite the fact that he was going as fast as he dared, he still hadn't even seen the taillights of what he still thought was a Daihatsu when a small red light started blinking in his car's dashboard announcing something which made Bunta feel rather upset: he was in reserve.

'Shit!' he exclaimed now damning himself for not having thought about the petrol he had spent first travelling there and then driving up and down the pass and, not really having any other option, he decided to slow down and quit his pursue.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he just let the car cruise downhill while he made some calculations to figure out if he could make it back to Shibukawa with whatever petrol was left in the tank deciding to give it a go but to stop, should he see any open petrol station along the way.

He was about to forget all about the small convertible when he saw it parked right at the bottom of the pass, next to the small, local train station and, to his utmost shock, he saw a young teenager, at least two or three years his junior, getting a rather heavy looking stack of newspapers out of the car's trunk.

Stopping his car nearby, he rolled the window down and said:

'Hey kid…'

The boy didn't seem to hear him at first then, probably noticing the powerful sounding roar coming out of the 2000GT's engine, he left the pile of newspapers next to the car and turned round, raising his eyebrows in shock and admiration as he saw the beautiful piece of machinery which was Bunta's pride and joy.

'That's a very nice car,' the boy said.

'Thanks,' Bunta replied, 'hey, I may be mistaken,' he added, 'but I think I've seen that car driving downhill just now.'

Something odd happened then for, hearing those words made the kid's eyes widen in shock then, bending down to pick the newspapers up from the ground, he mumbled something incomprehensible and rushed towards the station's kiosk.

Feeling extremely confused, Bunta turned the car's engine off and climbed out of the car so that he could follow the kid, finding him very badly hidden behind the small, white, prefabricated structure.

'What are you doing?' Bunta asked him amusedly.

'Er…' the kid hesitated.

'It's you who's driving that car, isn't it?' Bunta then asked, careful to use a tone which wouldn't frighten the poor kid even more so than he already was.

'Er…' the boy hesitated again.

'It's alright if you are, you know,' Bunta continued, 'I'm not a policeman and, to be honest, I don't really care if you're old enough to drive or not.'

'I'm eighteen years old!' the kid lied blatantly as he jumped out of the spot he'd chosen to hide himself.

'Alright,' Bunta said rather patronisingly, 'let's pretend you are. Now, are you going to answer to my question?'

'Er…I…' the boy started then, swallowing, he looked up from the ground and at Bunta while he nodded a couple of times, 'yeah, it was me,' he finally admitted.

'Wow,' Bunta said looking genuinely impressed, 'how fast were you going?'

'I don't know,' the kid replied shrugging, 'I don't pay attention to those things anymore.'

'Anymore?' Bunta repeated, 'how long have you been driving?' he then asked sounding fairly incredulous.

'A couple of years,' the kid replied, 'my father owns a printing business and we need to get the newspapers to the kiosks before they open in the morning.'

'I see,' Bunta commented then, as an after thought, he added, 'do you take part in any of the races?'

'No,' the boy said, 'but I will once I get my own car. I'm driving my father's now and he'd kill me if I used it for anything other than doing the deliveries,' he looked like he wanted to add something else when he saw the station's clock, 'I'm sorry but I need to go…'

With that the younger teenager made his way back to his car, climbing into it and leaving so fast that by the time Bunta realised that he didn't even know the kid's name, it was too late then, seeing that he also needed to go, he walked towards the Toyota making it to Shibukawa just in time for the tofu delivery.

'About bloody time!' Eikichi exclaimed, 'I was about to get worried.'

'Sorry,' Bunta said, 'I got carried away and I used too much petrol and…'

'Forget it,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'come on, we've got to go.'

'Alright,' Bunta replied then, leaving the Toyota at its usual spot, making a mental note to fill its tank as soon as he could, he locked the door up and ran towards his uncle's Isuzu where, as usual, he felt a bit out of place.

'So,' Eikichi said as soon as they were on the way up Mt Akina's pass, 'where did you go this time?'

'Mt Usui,' Bunta replied, happy to notice that the older man sounded more curious than pissed off, 'there's a great road there.'

'Yeah, I remember,' Eikichi replied, 'I haven't been there in ages though,' he added then, he asked, 'did you make your mind up?'

'About what?' Bunta asked him back.

'About your future,' Eikichi replied, 'wasn't that what you wanted to think about?'

'Ah…yeah…' Bunta said smiling sheepishly, 'er…I…'

'You didn't even think about it, did you?'

'I did,' Bunta countered then, deciding that it was better to be honest, he admitted, 'just for a bit though.'

'Right,' Eikichi said after laughing softly then, getting serious, he added, 'do you want to know what my opinion in the matter is?'

'Sure,' Bunta replied.

'I think your friend Yuuichi is right,' he explained, 'I think you should aim to become a professional racer.'

'Really?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied using a surprisingly firm tone of voice.

'I don't know,' Bunta said, 'I mean, regardless of how good I am, there's no way I can afford the money it takes to become a pro and, let's face it, getting the right sponsorship it's very difficult for someone with no experience like me.'

That made Eikichi let out yet another amused chuckle.

'You've given it a fair bit of thought, considering you're not too sure about what you want to do.'

'It's precisely because I've considered all the options I have that I'm so uncertain,' Bunta countered fighting to keep his cool for he was beginning to feel rather embarrassed about this whole conversation which, in his opinion, it made him look like an unrealistic day-dreamer.

'Things can be a lot easier than that,' Eikichi said.

'Care to explain?' Bunta asked.

'Bunta,' Eikichi started, 'you're only eighteen years old, maybe aiming to be a professional racer straight away it's a bit of a stretch but, you could start from something a lot less ambitious.'

'Like what?' Bunta asked.

'Have you thought of entering some sort of amateur league?' Eikichi asked him.

'Amateur league?' Bunta repeated.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'there are quite a few series which amateur racers enter to make themselves noticed by the talent scouts. You would have to improve and polish your driving before you take part in any of their events but, you can always try.'

Bunta remained silent while he pondered the whole thing, not feeling too sure if he'd liked too much the fact that his uncle still thought he needed to 'improve and polish' his driving skills but, yet again, Eikichi was almost always right.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'what about the car?'

'What about it?' Eikichi asked.

'Do you think I could enter the races with my Toyota?' he asked back.

'Of course,' Eikichi replied, 'you've got one hell of a car and we wouldn't need all that much money to set it up properly.'

'We?' Bunta asked, 'wait a minute, what do you mean by 'we'?'

'I'm going to help you with this,' Eikichi replied as if it were the most obvious thing to say.

'You are?' Bunta asked without being able to keep his surprise out of his voice.

'Sure I will,' Eikichi replied, 'unless you want me to stay out of it, in that case…'

'No, no,' Bunta hurried to say, 'I'm very happy that you're willing to help, is just that…didn't you say you wouldn't spend any of your money to fund my racing activities?'

'I did,' Eikichi admitted, 'but this is different: we're talking about a serious career, something which you may make a living out of it in the future so, in my opinion, using my money to finance it it's no different than if I paid for a university course.'

'Yeah, well,' Bunta said, 'if you put it that way…'

Eikichi let out yet another chuckle and said, 'I'll tell you what we'll do: you finish high school first and use that time to get as much practice as you can. Meanwhile, I'll try to get in touch with one of my old friends who, I believe, is still involved in motorsports.'

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'Eikichi?'

'Yes?'

'I've got an idea,' Bunta started then, seeing that his uncle wasn't saying anything, he continued, 'if I'm to get as much practice as possible, why don't I start doing the deliveries by myself? This way you'd have more time to prepare the tofu we'll sell to the street customers.'

'That sounds like a good plan,' was Eikichi's surprising reply then, the two of them started discussing their plans for their joint project of opening the shop for the public as well as continuing their usual night-time delivery runs.

A couple of days later Bunta still had to share the news with Yuuichi because, for one reason or another, the two friends had not been left alone for long enough for Bunta to be able to tell his schoolmate about his and Eikichi's conversation. Even this afternoon the guy had just taken off right after school, apologising to Bunta for not being able to walk with him back home.

'Hey,' he heard Miyazaki say as Bunta was putting his slippers away in his small locker, having just put his shoes on, 'I know you're not working this evening so, you don't have any other plans, do you?**'**

'Er…' Bunta started.

'Because if you're not busy, I'd like to ask you for a favour,' Miyazaki said and something in his tone of voice made Bunta think that the guy pretty much took for granted that he would accept and, in fact, Bunta hadn't even opened his mouth when Miyazaki said, 'brilliant, let's go and get your car.'

'My what?' Bunta finally asked.

'Your car,' Miyazaki repeated, 'you and Yuuichi always talk about your cars so, I'm curious.'

'Where do you want to go?' a bit more than suspicious Bunta asked.

'Just for a drive,' Miyazaki replied with too much nonchalance to be fully believable, 'come on, we don't have too much time.'

'Time?' Bunta asked, still refusing to move from where he was.

'Fujiwara, come on...' Miyazaki begged him, managing a very frightening looking expression which was trying to make Bunta feel pity for him but that it freaked him out instead. Then, despite knowing that he was probably going to regret this, he let out a sigh full of resignation and said:

'Alright, let's go.'

Hurrying towards the Fujiwara Tofu Shop a lot faster than it really was necessary, Bunta found himself behind the steering wheel of his car not even ten minutes after leaving the school damning Yuuichi for choosing that day to go out on a date with Fuka while wondering where in the heck Mitsui was.

'So,' Bunta said, 'where do you want to go?'

'Maebashi,' Miyazaki replied all too firmly.

'Maebashi,' Bunta repeated, more to be sure that he'd heard right than anything, feeling more and more uneasy as the time went by.

'Yep,' Miyazaki said, 'I'd like to see that new cinema they've just opened. A guy from school told me that there are ten screens! Ten! Imagine that.'

'That's not such a big deal,' Bunta said, 'in Tokyo…'

'Hey,' Miyazaki cut him off, 'this isn't Tokyo, here in the province we think it's a big deal.'

'Fair enough,' Bunta said and, with that, still not really knowing what was driving him to do it, he turned the Toyota's engine on, smirking when he heard the loud gasp coming from his schoolmate. Soon enough, they were on their way to Gunma's capital city, getting there only twenty minutes later.

'Wow,' Miyazaki gasped, 'if I had known we'd get here this fast,' he stopped speaking when he saw something through the rear view mirror then, he exclaimed, 'pull over!'

'What?'

'Pull over there!' Miyazaki repeated pointing towards the side of the urban road in an almost hysterical manner making Bunta think that maybe the guy wanted to throw up or something. Then, as soon as Bunta stopped the car by the pavement, between two other parked cars, Miyazaki hissed, 'hide!'

An increasingly confused Bunta did what he was told more out of instinct than of nothing else however, as he slid down his seat, he caught a glimpse of the reason why, in all likeliness, Miyazaki wanted them to hide.

'What the…' he started, seeing the very familiar dark blue, twin white striped, Mazda Capella which belonged to none other than one Yuuichi Tachibana driving past them, 'Miyazaki,' he then said trying to keep an even tone of voice, 'please tell me we're not following Yuuichi in his date.'

'Er…'

'Miyazaki!' Bunta exclaimed, getting ready to start beating the crap out of his schoolmate.

'Hey, wait,' the guy said, 'we're not only following Yuuichi and Fuka-chan.'

'Who else are we following?' an alarmed Bunta asked him.

'Er…' Miyazaki hesitated, smiling guiltily, 'apparently, Keitaro and Nakayama were going out with them too.'

'That's just great!' Bunta exclaimed, 'so, we're following them in their double date. How much of a loser do you think this makes us look?'

'Come on Fujiwara,' Miyazaki said, 'this can be fun.'

'No, it can't,' Bunta countered, 'this is…'

'Where are they going?' Miyazaki asked interrupting him at mid-speech then Bunta also stared out of the windscreen and saw that, a bit further away, Yuuichi's Mazda seemed to be taking the road which led to Mt Akagi.

'They're probably going to the pass,' Bunta replied.

'Let's follow them!' Miyazaki said and Bunta was about to vehemently refuse when, out of the corner of one eye, he saw that another car had just started going after Yuuichi's Mazda and, recognising whose car it was made Bunta punch the first gear in and take off behind the two cars while his brain tried to find a valid reason why Ken Kogashiwa could start following Yuuichi.

Whatever that was, Bunta was sure of one thing: it wasn't a friendly visit.

_To be continued…_


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

**Dreaming of Akina **

_Chapter Twenty Four _

Driving down the road, noticing that the number of buildings around them decreased as they approached the outskirts of the city and the bottom of Mt Akagi's pass, Bunta felt a lot more anxious than he allowed himself to look while he chased the midnight blue Nissan GT-R.

'F-fujiwara,' a rather frightened Miyazaki said, 'what's going on?'

Bunta chose not to reply his schoolmate's question when he noticed that the traffic light that both Mazda and Nissan had just past was about to turn red.

'Shit,' he muttered slapping his left hand against the steering wheel, letting out a frustrated sigh, unable to believe that his best friend still had failed to recognise the car which was currently following him.

'Fujiwara,' Miyazaki tried again.

'Be quiet,' Bunta ordered him dryly then, making an effort to sound a bit more civil, he added, 'hold on to your seat and don't distract me.'

Miyazaki, more than likely deciding that it was wiser not to argue with his classmate, especially taking into consideration that he had put himself at Bunta's mercy by just climbing into his car so, for this reason, remained as quiet and still as possible while he grasped the seat with both of his hands.

That gesture soon revealed itself to be rather useless for, out of one of the intersecting streets which were ahead of them, both he and Bunta saw a decrepit looking van, the bodywork of which hadn't seen a paintbrush in years. Unfortunately enough, its driver chose to get right in front of the 2000GT, effectively blocking it.

'What the...' Bunta exclaimed.

Glancing at the car's rear view mirrors, he checked for any incoming traffic, happy to see that there were no other cars around. He was about to go past the van when Miyazaki, daring to open his mouth for something other than breathing, pointed out:

'You can't overtake here.'

'Why in the heck not?' Bunta asked then, looking at the double, continuous line which separated both lanes, he answered to his own question. 'It doesn't matter,' he then added as he pressed the accelerator, veering towards the right and passing the van in one swift move.

'Holy crap,' Miyazaki wheezed, 'you're nuts!'

Bunta couldn't repress a smirk when he heard his schoolmate's constant muttering which made it sound as though as he was praying then, deciding that he'd already lost too much time, he applied even more pressure to the accelerator and, at long last, he reached the car park at the bottom of the legendary pass where he saw something which wiped his half smile off his face:

Parked at the side of the road, he saw Yuuichi's Mazda and Ken's Nissan with both young men talking to each other while Fuka, Mitsui another girl stood there, observing the scene with equally worried frowns on their faces.

As it was more than expected, his arrival attracted everyone's attention and he almost laughed when he saw the utterly astounded expression on Yuuichi's face and the no less shocked one of Ken Kogashiwa then, before the surprise effect would wear off, Bunta pulled towards the side of the road too, leaving his car parked right behind the Nissan.

'What in the hell are you doing in here?' Yuuichi asked him.

'What do you want from him?' Bunta asked to Ken instead.

'Nothing that's any of your business,' Ken replied rather rudely.'

'Say that again,' Bunta challenged, squaring his jaw and putting his chest out while he prepared his fists for a fight, feeling almost happy that Ken was doing the same thing too.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said, 'he just asked me to race him…'

'He's what?' Bunta asked him with a large dose of disbelief imprinted in his voice.

'…and I said yes,' Yuuichi continued, ignoring the bewildered look Bunta was giving him, 'we were about to start…'

'No way,' Bunta interrupted him, 'Yuuichi, there's no…'

'Come with me one second,' Yuuichi cut him off, grabbing him by his arm and dragging him away from everyone's hearing range then, facing Bunta but giving his back to the rest of the group, he said, 'I'm going to race him.'

'Yuuichi…'

'Look Bunta,' he said, 'I know that he's not your favourite person in this world but, I'm a street racer and I've been issued a challenge and, heck, I'm going to take it.'

'Yuuichi…'

'Please,' he continued, 'I really want to race him.'

Bunta stared at his best friend for a couple of seconds which was as much as he needed to see that Yuuichi was being completely serious about this whole affair then, letting out a sigh loaded with all the pent up anxiety and frustration, he said:

'Alright, do it then but, be careful, that guy…'

'I know,' Yuuichi interrupted him smiling in his usual kind-hearted way, 'I'm going to crush him!'

'You do that,' Bunta said returning the grin then, after reaching this agreement, the two friends walked back to where the three cars were parked. There Bunta just leant against his own car's front while he watched his friend making his way to his girlfriend.

'Baby,' Yuuichi said, 'you stay here with the guys, I'll be back in a short while, okay?'

'S-sure,' Fuka replied then, on her tiptoes, she gave him a very quick peck on his cheek, 'for luck,' she added making him smile even more.

'So,' they all heard Ken say, 'are two you done with your strategy meeting?'

'Yes we are,' Yuuichi replied, refusing to acknowledge the sarcasm in Ken's voice.

'Unless,' the Nissan's driver started, looking at Bunta in an almost poisonous way, 'this loser here wants to take your place.'

'No thanks,' Bunta said coolly, 'Yuuichi is more than capable of beating the pants off you on his own.'

Mitsui, Miyazaki and that Nakayama girl couldn't help but to let out an amused chuckle and even Fuka allowed herself to smile at the furious expression which had appeared on Kogashiwa's face.

'We'll see about that,' he said while he went to climb into his car so that he could get ready for the battle.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi muttered before copying his opponent, 'I appreciate what you said but, I don't think it was such a good idea to taunt him like that.'

'Don't worry about it,' Bunta said, 'I meant every word I said. Now, do your best to take the lead at the start and block him all the way to the top. That'll be the only way you'll beat him.'

'You make it sound so easy,' Yuuichi complained but he offered Bunta a reassuring smile as he walked towards his car, getting behind the steering wheel and closing the door with a hand which looked a lot steadier than Bunta had actually expected.

A few moments later, he found himself standing right in front of the two cars, with his left index finger up in the air, starting the countdown, putting his arm down the second he shouted for the two cars to go. Turning round as fast as he could, he saw that Yuuichi had indeed managed to get ahead.

'Good job,' he muttered to himself before he joined the other four people who were animatedly discussing the whole thing.

'This is so cool,' Mitsui said.

'I can now understand why you two are nuts about this,' Miyazaki agreed.

'Me too,' Nakayama added.

Bunta just nodded while he sat back down on top of the cool surface of his car's bonnet, fervently hoping that Yuuichi would manage to win this race for, in all honesty, there were very few other things he wanted to see more than Ken's face once he'd been defeated by yet another Akina boy.

'He's going to be alright, isn't he?' he heard Fuka ask him, her slightly quivering voice betraying just how nervous she was.

'Of course,' Bunta replied with as much firmness as he could muster, despite the fact that he did have some doubts regarding the outcome of this battle, 'he's a great racer, you know?'

'I know,' Fuka said softly, 'but he's not like you.'

Bunta just looked at her not really knowing what to say to that. Meanwhile, further up the road, Yuuichi was doing his very best trying to keep Ken's car behind him, finding it a lot easier than he'd thought it be, feeling rather upset about this for it could only mean one thing:

Ken Kogashiwa was underestimating him.

'You'll pay for this,' Yuuichi said while entering a very sharp and steep left-hander, praying so that his car could cope with the climb it had ahead of itself and feeling grateful that he had chosen to change the Capella's tyres in time for the double date.

The two cars followed each other through a few more corners until, half way through the pass, right when they drove into a hairpin, which had nothing to envy to Akina's five consecutive ones, when Yuuichi saw through his rear view mirror that Kogashiwa was about to attack.

Being very careful that he didn't steer too much out of his line, Yuuichi tried to close the gap the best way he could possibly manage, feeling immensely relieved when he noticed that his opponent seemed to have given up.

'Shit, that was close,' he muttered to himself while he exited the corner, accelerating as he did so in order to prepare the car for the following corner where, for some strange reason and going against his predictions, Ken didn't try to overtake him.

Despite this, an already sweaty Yuuichi refused to let his guard down and, instead, he focused even more on his driving so that he could continue his race, allowing himself to think, for just a fleeting second, that he may actually be able to win this battle.

'Just a few more corners,' he said, speaking to the steering wheel, sounding as though as he was also trying to egg his car on almost as much as he was trying to inject some courage into himself. If only he could remove the ominous fear of facing Bunta after being defeated by Kogashiwa.

No!

He had to stop thinking like this, Yuuichi admonished himself while he climbed around yet another tight left-hander, he needed to remain positive and, above anything else, he needed to clear his mind off useless thoughts.

Already feeling better, he drove the short distance which separated him from the following corner when he noticed that the Nissan's headlights were slightly off to the right, meaning that Kogashiwa was probably preparing himself for another attack.

Yuuichi entered the almost hairpin-like curve when he felt that his car's front left tyre had suddenly lost a lot of its grip, making it very difficult for him to turn the way he needed to and, what was worse, rendering it impossible to block the way for Kogashiwa who, very cleverly, used that chance to try and overtake him.

'No way,' the eighteen year old exclaimed, 'I'm not letting you pass!'

Seizing the steering wheel like if it were his own life, he somehow managed to get the car into the corner and around it, clearing it while remaining still ahead of the Nissan, finding it funny that he almost couldn't hear the car's engine over the furious pounding of his own heartbeat.

He'd never been this much frantic in his whole life.

With only a couple more corners to go before the long stretch of road which was considered as the end of the course, Ken Kogashiwa chose to gamble everything to that very last turn so, in the penultimate one, he limited himself to follow the Mazda around it.

It was then, as both cars finished clearing it that Ken did his move: driving around the Mazda and using the extra speed the aerodynamics gave him, he levelled his GT-R with the Capella and decided to press his luck as he pushed his car into the corner.

Yuuichi realised that there was no way both cars could make it into the narrow space at the same time and, with a pang, he also noticed that Ken had absolutely no intentions whatsoever of moving over to allow him to enter the corner.

'Fuck,' he muttered angrily as he saw himself literally forced to open up the space, watching powerlessly as the midnight blue Nissan drove past him, clearing the corner just a microsecond before he did. Of course, after that and with just a dozen or so meters left, there was no way Yuuichi could try and overtake him again.

He had lost.

Somehow, after being ahead for the whole of the race, Ken Kogashiwa had managed to pass him at the very last corner. Yuuichi felt like he wanted to burst into tears.

Instead, he pulled towards the side of the road, parking his car right behind of the Nissan then, using up every ounce of his determination, he trained his features so that he wouldn't appear as devastated as he felt then, before that façade would just collapse, Yuuichi climbed out of the Capella.

'That was a very interesting race,' Ken said.

To Yuuichi's surprise, the guy sounded genuine enough and that left him speechless.

'Well,' Ken continued, 'I better go now but, before I do, let me tell you one thing.'

'Sure,' Yuuichi managed to say.

'I think you're a much better opponent than that friend of yours,' Ken said making Yuuichi do a double take, 'it's a lot more enjoyable racing with people like you.'

'Yeah right,' he interrupted him with a bitter smirk, 'it's always nicer when you win,' then, putting a hand up to stop Ken from replying to his comment, Yuuichi turned round so that he could walk back towards his car.

'Hey…'

'Listen,' Yuuichi cut him off once again, 'you've proved your point already: I still have much to learn before I can call myself a street racer,' he added, not being able to repress a tiny smile for he had just used the same words Bunta had said right after his first victory in Akina.

Ken said something else but Yuuichi didn't even pay attention to him while he climbed into his car so that he could drive downhill where his girlfriend and friends were waiting for him, probably eager to know about the outcome of the race.

'Where's Kogashiwa?' Bunta asked his best friend the instant he stepped out of his car.

'He left,' Yuuichi replied, 'right after he won the race,' he then added as fast as he could, lowering his gaze to the ground so that he wouldn't have to face Bunta.

'He won,' Bunta said, using a flat tone of voice.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi admitted, still refusing to look up at his friend's face for he was terrified that he'd see a very disappointed expression on it, 'sorry.'

'It's alright,' Fuka intervened, hooking her arm around her boyfriend's while caressing his shoulder with her free hand, 'I'm sure you did your best.'

Yuuichi glanced at her beautiful face seeing that Fuka looked both honest and genuinely impressed, leaving him in marvel because, even though he'd just said he'd lost, she still was proud of him and that proved that she really was as much in love with him as she had declared just a few days before.

'It obviously wasn't enough,' he told her with a frown.

'Yuuichi,' Bunta said, 'if you truly did all you could you should be happy and, you know what's next now, don't you?'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi replied, finally glanced at his friend, seeing that he didn't seem to be disappointed in the slightest, if anything, Bunta looked rather impressed too, 'I have to train myself even harder!'

'That's right,' Bunta said, offering him one of his grins.

'You two are nuts,' Miyazaki commented, getting up from the guardrail where he, Mitsui and Nakayama had been sitting up to then, 'but that was very cool.'

'It was,' Mitsui agreed then, looking at Miyazaki, he added, 'I know of someone who's not going to be taking the piss out of your street racing activities ever again, huh?'

'Definitely,' Miyazaki said, 'after this, I'm actually thinking of getting my driving license too.'

'God help us,' Bunta commented only half-feigning terror and both his remark and his expression made everyone burst out laughing allowing Yuuichi to forget, even if it was only for a short while, all about the bitterness of this new defeat.

A couple of hours later and after dropping everyone else back at their respective homes, both Yuuichi and Bunta were sitting by the lake, silently sipping a can of soda each, with the Toyota and the Mazda parked nearby when, all of a sudden, Bunta chose to break the silence:

'I've got something to tell you.'

'Alright,' Yuuichi said, 'what is it?'

'I'm going to have a go at it,' Bunta replied.

'A go at what?' a very confused Yuuichi asked.

'Don't tell anyone,' Bunta said, 'but I'm going to try and become a professional racer.'

'REALLY?' Yuuichi shouted, jumping up from his sitting position so abruptly that he spilled a good dose of the soda he was supposed to be drinking.

'Yep,' Bunta said, so used to Yuuichi's sudden bursts that he no longer got bothered by them, 'it's still a work in progress but my uncle and I are going to start getting things together right after I finish high school.'

'Oh man!' Yuuichi exclaimed, 'this is so cool!'

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'it's just a project.'

'You'll do it!' Yuuichi squealed, 'I'm sure you will! You're…'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta interrupted him, fearing that his friend would have a nervous breakdown if he didn't calm down soon, 'even getting into one of the amateur leagues my uncle told me about it's going to be very difficult, right now it's still a fifty-fifty thing, maybe not even that…'

'No, no,' Yuuichi insisted, 'you're going to become a professional racer! If you can't, who can, huh?'

'However,' Bunta said, ignoring his friend's question, 'I still have to do one thing before I can focus on preparing the car for the circuit races.'

'And what's that?' a slightly calmer Yuuichi asked.

'I've been thinking about it for a few days and…'

'And?' Yuuichi said, feeling suddenly afraid seeing the evil glint he could see in Bunta's eyes as he smirked.

'I'm going to go back to Irohazaka and challenge Kogashiwa to another race,' he announced.

'Oh no,' Yuuichi said.

'Oh yes,' a smirking Bunta replied.

'Don't you have any mercy for that poor guy?' Yuuichi asked him, even though he already couldn't wait for the race then, instead of answering to the question, Bunta limited himself to let out a very amused chuckle.

_To be continued…_


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

**Dreaming of Akina **

_Chapter Twenty Five _

Three weeks later, the alarm clock went off at exactly quarter to four in the morning waking Bunta who, up to then, had been sleeping very soundly and that, right now, felt rather annoyed at the poor thing for it made him become aware of the bitter cold October had brought with it all of a sudden.

'Geez, it's freezing,' he muttered under his breath while he tried to get dressed as fast as he could then, taking his old denim jacket with him, he padded out of his room and went downstairs where his uncle was already preparing the night's delivery.

'Morning,' the older man said seeing his nephew step into the shop's working area.

'Eikichi,' Bunta said, 'it's getting quite cold in here: shouldn't we get the heater out?'

'Nope,' Eikichi replied shaking his head once, 'if you can't cope with this temperature now, how are you going to handle it when it'll snow?'

'Fair point,' Bunta said deciding to agree with his uncle for, he knew, it would probably be useless trying to win any argument with him, even more so considering that he was, after all, living in the older man's house so, instead, he asked, 'I'm going to go and get the keys, alright?'

'You won't need them,' Eikichi replied.

'Why not?' a puzzled Bunta asked, 'I thought we had agreed that I'd be doing the deliveries every night.'

'And you are,' Eikichi said, 'only that this morning you'll be doing them with my car.'

Bunta felt his jaw drop and he was too shocked to find his uncle's mocking expression offensive: had he heard right? Was his uncle going to allow him to drive his beloved Isuzu unsupervised?

Surely not. The very thought was just laughable.

'Come on kid,' Eikichi said thrusting the Bellett's keys into Bunta's right hand, 'you're already five minutes late.'

'You're not coming?' Bunta managed to ask.

'Of course not,' Eikichi replied, 'I have to prepare the tofu we're going to sell later, don't I?'

'But,' Bunta said, still frowning with uncertainty, 'am I going to drive the Bellett on my own?'

'Yep,' was Eikichi's astonishing reply, 'I haven't received any complaints from your deliveries and, since your car hasn't suffered any damage in these three weeks, I asked myself: why shouldn't I trust you with mine?'

'I…well, I don't know what to say,' Bunta said honestly.

'Besides,' Eikichi continued, 'you need to get practice with different cars, after all, if you make it to professionalism, I doubt you'll be driving the same car all the time.'

'That's right,' Bunta said feeling way too happy about the fact that his uncle seemed to genuinely trust him so, clutching the keys in his fist, he bowed towards his uncle and promised, 'I'll take care of it, you've got my word.'

Eikichi just laughed softly before he walked towards the deep fryer he'd bought before the school's festival so that he could turn it on to start making the fried tofu they would sell later on. Bunta, meanwhile, walked out of the shop feeling rather odd for having to leave his beautiful 2000GT behind as he made his way to the panda coloured Bellett.

'Let's do this,' he said to no one in particular the minute he was sitting behind the Isuzu's steering wheel, using up a couple of minutes to make sure everything was exactly as he wanted. Only then, with an impressively steady hand, he inserted the key into the ignition and, very carefully, he turned the engine on.

'Hey,' Bunta heard his uncle's voice coming from outside the window and, after he'd rolled it down, Eikichi added, 'aren't you forgetting something?'

Bunta just grinned while the older man passed him a cup a bit more than half full of water which was promptly placed inside the holder the car came equipped with. After that, Bunta rolled the window back up, pressed the clutch, entered the first gear and released the handbrake.

Five minutes later, he was already cruising towards the main road which led to Mt Akina's pass, paying even more attention to everything than usual for, in reality, he felt very nervous about driving the Bellett on his own. If anything happened to that car…

'It won't,' Bunta admonished himself, removing any negative thoughts from his mind knowing perfectly well that they wouldn't help him drive any better and finding that he couldn't wait to get rid of the tofu he had in the trunk so that he could launch the car down the hill.

He hadn't even covered half of the distance to the summit when he saw a very familiar red Fairlady Z parked next to one of the other Nissan that Kazuki Izumi, one of the Akina Firebolts drove. Standing by both cars, he saw the two drivers out of them, busy discussing something.

Stopping the Isuzu next to them, he rolled the window down once again and said, 'hello there.'

'Bunta?' Masashi asked, 'what in the heck are you driving?'

'It's my uncle's car,' he replied, pleased to see the admiring way in which both his workmate and Izumi were eyeing the Isuzu, 'he's letting me drive it for the deliveries.'

After just a few seconds, Masashi's expression turned into one of worry, 'you haven't crashed your car again, have you?' he then asked.

'Of course not!' an offended Bunta replied.

'Hey, I'm only asking,' Masashi hurried to say, putting both of his hands up, 'it's just that you did tell me your uncle would never allow you to drive this baby on your own.'

'I know I did,' Bunta said, 'I guess he's finally beginning to trust my great driving skills,' he then added with a smug smirk appearing on his face. This, of course, made Masashi and Izumi chuckle softly, 'so,' Bunta continued, 'what are you two doing in here?'

'Ah,' Masashi gasped while Izumi's gaze got suddenly lost somewhere down the valley, 'we're…we're practicing,' the new Akina Firebolts' leader said, hesitating a tad too much to be entirely believable.

'Practicing?' Bunta asked.

'Yep,' Izumi replied, 'we're…' he interrupted himself noticing the assassin-like kind of look Masashi was throwing him, 'er…' he then hesitated.

'…aren't you going to be late for the deliveries?' Masashi finished for him.

'Crap!' Bunta replied stealing a look at his wristwatch, realising that he ought to have been at the summit ages ago, 'I'll better hurry, see you both later.'

'Yeah, see you,' Masashi agreed.

Knowing fully well that he couldn't afford to be late, Bunta pressed the gas pedal as much as he could, always keeping in mind the fact that he simply couldn't allow himself to make any mistakes, not only because he would spill the water and therefore damage the tofu but, more importantly, because if anything were to happen to the Isuzu, his uncle would have him skinned alive.

In the end, and despite of all the time he had wasted, Bunta made it to the hotel only five minutes after the usual half past four appointment his uncle had religiously kept throughout all those years.

'Hey boy,' Ryo-san, the plum looking chef said seeing him step into his kitchen, 'you're a bit late.'

'I know,' Bunta replied, 'I'm sorry: Uncle Eikichi made me do the delivery with his car and…'

'He's letting you drive the Bellett on your own?' Ryo-san asked, his voice showing even more disbelief than what Masashi's had done then, seeing Bunta's nod made him add, 'either that man is going senile way too early or…'

'Or?' Bunta asked.

'Or he loves you more than even he knows,' Ryo-san finished making Bunta swallow for lack of not knowing what else to do, 'in any case,' the chef carried on, 'you've been a very good influence on him.'

'Why is that?' Bunta dared to ask.

'Because I've known your uncle for a very long time and I've never seen him looking happier than he does now,' Ryo-san explained, 'I've always said that man needed a son,' he then stopped talking all of a sudden as though as he had realised he had spoken too much, 'I…' he hesitated.

'Don't worry,' Bunta hurried to say, 'I agree with you: my uncle would have been a great father.'

After that, he bode a good day to the old man and, taking the two empty containers from him, he turned round and walked back to the Isuzu, placing them carefully inside its still open trunk, noticing for the first time that a light drizzle was beginning to fall.

It didn't matter, Bunta decided while he climbed back into the car, fastening his seatbelt and re-starting the engine, preparing himself mentally for what was one of his favourite activities: driving down Mt Akina's pass going as fast as he could.

'Are you ready?' Bunta asked to the car, staring at the steering wheel almost as if he were expecting it to reply to the question, 'of course you are,' he answered instead before inserting the first gear so that he could roll the Isuzu out of the small car park.

He started easy, deciding to wait until the first few corners before he would press the accelerator, keeping an eye on the cup so that he wouldn't spill a drop from it then, after going around a few turns using only a portion of the power he knew the engine had, he launched the car into a particularly sharp left hander, feeling the characteristic tug from the g-forces.

He truly loved that sensation!

Bunta decided then to try drifting the car, choosing a relatively easy low speed corner, making sure the rear of the Bellett slid in the opposite direction before switching to the right one, sending the car into a slide which he carefully controlled with the pedals.

'Shit!' he exclaimed all of a sudden for, out of the blue, he saw Masashi's red Fairlady Z laying across the road just a few metres ahead of him and, slamming the brakes as hard as he could, he only managed to stop the car a handful of centimetres away from the Nissan.

Taking a very deep and relieved breath, a slightly trembling Bunta climbed out of the car while Masashi was doing the very same thing then, making sure he kept his tone under a reasonable tone of voice, he asked:

'What in the heck are you doing?'

'I'm sorry,' Masashi said, 'I kind of lost control of the car.'

'No, really?' Bunta asked him sarcastically, 'and here I was thinking you were enjoying the view.'

'Bunta,' Masashi warned him.

'Now,' the younger man said, clearly ignoring him, 'can I know what in the heavens were you trying to do?'

The sudden arrival of Izumi's blue 1968 Sunny Coupe coming up the road probably saved Masashi from having to reply and, before Bunta could do anything to prevent it, Masashi climbed back into his car while he said:

'We'll explain everything to you soon, don't worry about it now.'

With that, he just took off uphill with Izumi driving right after him, leaving Bunta behind wondering why in the heck were they being so mysterious. It just didn't make any sense, he thought sighing in frustration, since when Masashi had become this secretive?

Checking his wristwatch, he saw that it was almost quarter to five and that unless he got back home soon, he was sure his uncle would send an army after him, not because he'd be concerned about him, Bunta thought smirking ironically, but rather due to the fact that he was probably worried sick about the wellbeing of his beloved car.

'About bloody time,' Eikichi said, looking indeed a bit anxious while he stood outside of the shop, apparently enjoying a cigarette, more than likely waiting for his nephew to arrive so he could go and check that there were no dents anywhere on the Isuzu.

'Sorry, I…'

'Don't worry,' Eikichi cut him off, 'how did it go?'

'It went great,' Bunta replied, 'your car is, as usual, fantastic. I did spill a bit of the water though.'

'Why?' Eikichi asked, eyeing him critically.

'I had to brake a bit too brusquely because I found Masashi practicing with his car up Mt Akina,' Bunta replied, deciding to be honest with the older man.

'He's practicing at this time of the morning?' Eikichi asked him then, seeing his nod, he added, 'he's probably been challenged by someone quite strong then.'

'I wouldn't know,' Bunta replied with an angry scowl, 'he refused to tell me anything when I asked him.'

'Why would he?' Eikichi asked him, 'you're not part of his team, are you? If he doesn't feel like telling you about his plans, you can hardly blame him for that.'

Put before such a disarming display of logic rendered Bunta, for the umpteenth time ever since he'd met the man, totally speechless and, not being able to come up with something to counter this remark, he just nodded a couple of times before he made his way into the shop.

'Good night,' he finally muttered while he was leaving the two empty containers at their usual spot.

'Night, kiddo,' an amused sounding Eikichi replied. Had Bunta turned round to look at his uncle's face, he would have seen a most cunning twinkle appear in the older man's eyes, instead, the teenager just walked up the stairs and threw himself on his bed, allowing only enough time to remove his jacket, dropping it straight onto the floor.

Two and a half hours later, he woke up so that he could go to school where, as every single morning, he found Yuuichi, Mitsui and Miyazaki already waiting for him at the entrance.

'Morning,' Bunta said, hiding a yawn behind his left hand while the four schoolmates started walking towards the school's white building so that they could go each to their own classrooms.

'Hey,' Mitsui said, 'you look so tired man!'

'You've been driving up Mt Akina all night again, haven't you?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Nope,' Bunta replied, 'as a matter of fact, it was Masashi and Izumi who were there instead.'

'Ah, that's right,' was Yuuichi's shocking comment, 'Masashi-san's probably getting ready for the challenge he received last week.'

'What challenge?' Bunta asked, sounding a mix between surprised and a bit hurt that even Yuuichi seemed to know what was going on. Again, Yuuichi, being the gossiper he was, always found out about most things almost before they actually happened…

'Do you remember Mitsuri Shun?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'it's that guy from Myogi, the one driving the red Leone, right?'

'That's correct,' Yuuichi said, 'well, he's been looking for an opponent for a kind of race that's becoming quite popular and, Masashi-san agreed to be the first to try. They're racing this Saturday.'

'What kind of race is it?' Bunta asked with such a blatant display of interest that it made Yuuichi seem reluctant to explain himself for, by know, he knew Bunta well enough to know that if anything sparkled his interest, they were in deep trouble.

'It's a Gumtape Deathmatch,' he replied nonetheless, speaking as fast and casually as he could.

'A what?' Miyazaki asked, voicing the very question Bunta wanted to ask. Yuuichi, after throwing a dirty look at his old childhood friend, took a deep breath so that he could buy himself time to come up with an explanation which would sound as boring as possible.

'It's nothing special,' he finally tried, 'it's just that you get your right hand taped to the wheel and you only have your left one free to change the gears.'

'That sounds dangerous,' Mitsui pointed out and it was then his turn to receive a glare by Yuuichi. Predictably enough, Bunta started looking rather interested about this whole thing and, not really knowing what else to say, Yuuichi decided to point at his watch and say:

'Hurry to your classrooms or you'll be late.'

'Yes, sir,' Miyazaki said mockingly but, nevertheless, he took Mitsui's arm and dragged him towards the corridor where the second group of the third years had their classroom. Yuuichi, ignoring Bunta's inquisitive look, did the exact same thing but going to the chemistry lab.

Bunta was left with no option but to follow him too but, before he did, he made himself a mental note so that he could get a proper explanation from his best friend. Something in this whole Gumtape Deathmach sounded very intriguing indeed.

'Yuuichi,' he said right after what had probably been the most boring chemistry lesson ever and as they were walking down the corridor towards their classroom, 'come with me one second…'

'I can't,' Yuuichi replied, 'I've got to go to the teacher's room and…'

'You can do that later,' Bunta interrupted him, 'now, what in the heck is that Gumtape Deathmatch thing and why is it that you all seem so reticent of letting me know about it?'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi replied, letting out a sigh loaded with resignation, 'it's not that we don't want you to know about it, it's that we're sure that if you do know about it, you'll want to do it and Mitsui is right: it's a very dangerous kind of race.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'Think about it,' Yuuichi said putting his hands in front of him as though as he were grasping a steering wheel, 'if you can only move your right hand within a certain range, you won't be able to turn the tyres all that much, will you?'

Bunta imagined himself in the situation and then, Yuuichi saw his face lit up in realisation, 'wow…that's right…'

'Plus,' Yuuichi said, 'the Leone has an FF layout and that gives Mitsuri a huge advantage when it comes to this style of driving. That's why he insisted with Masashi-san that they'd race in Akina where Masashi knows the course best.'

'Alright, I see your point,' Bunta said.

'You do?' Yuuichi asked him, unable to believe that it had been so easy to convince his best friend not to try and challenge someone to a Gumtape Deathmatch himself.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'it's Masashi's race and I can't interfere so, I'll have to wait to some other time.'

With that, the guy just walked away from a very worried looking Yuuichi who, by the way, seemed to be on the verge of crying out of sheer desperation. Why in the heck did Bunta always behave like that? Yuuichi thought while he made his way to the teachers' room.

The following Saturday night, the whole of the Akina Firebolts plus Bunta, Yuuichi and Fuka met up at around eight o'clock so that they could receive their guests from Mt Myogi who were supposed to show up an hour later. Meanwhile, people from the town and from other places in Gunma were beginning to spread along several points of the course.

'Is it me,' Masashi started, 'or we're getting more and more public recently?'

'It's not you,' Izumi replied, 'it's been like that ever since Bunta showed up. For some reason, there are quite a lot of people who are becoming fans of his.'

'Sorry about that,' Bunta said looking anything but sorry.

'It's fine,' Masashi commented amusedly, 'I just hope street racing doesn't become too popular or we may have trouble with the police, in any case, I'm going to prepare for the race,' then, still glancing at Bunta, he asked, 'do you want to help me?'

'Sure,' Bunta replied and, soon enough, both men and Izumi were busy making sure that everything under the Fairlady Z's bonnet looked exactly as it should. Masashi had just finished doing the final checks when something weird happened:

For no apparent reason, the bonnet's cover which up to then had been hoisted up by its metallic rod, fell right down and only Bunta's and Izumi's very quick reflexes prevented them from hurting themselves. Masashi though, wasn't quite so lucky: in an attempt at trying to keep the cover from hitting him on his head, he placed his left hand over it causing the heavy lid to slam itself against his poor knuckles.

'Fuck!' Masashi swore holding an increasingly swollen hand against his chest while everyone else stared at him looking positively petrified.

'M-masashi…' Izumi stuttered, 'are, are you alright?'

'Shit,' the Akina Firebolts' leader replied, 'crap…I think I've got something broken…'

'Oh no,' Yuuichi gasped, 'you won't be able to race now…'

Masashi turned to look at him sharply and was about to snap against the younger guy's comment when Izumi went to check his leader's left hand which indeed looked quite badly bruised.

'Masashi,' a very worried Izumi started, 'Yuuichi's right: I don't think you can do a Gumtape Deathmatch with your hand like this…'

'He can't,' Bunta intervened all of a sudden, 'but I can.'

_To be continued…_


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

**Dreaming of Akina **

_Chapter Twenty Six _

At first they all looked at Bunta as though as he had lost his marbles but soon their astonished expressions started relaxing to look more amused than anything else, as if they had suddenly decided that the guy was just taking the piss. Seeing all of this made Bunta frown and say:

'Hey, I'm serious.'

'You can't…' Yuuichi started saying, only to be interrupted by Masashi.

'No offence or anything,' the Akina Firebolts' leader said, 'I know you're an excellent driver, probably the best amongst all of us but, this is a Gumtape Deathmatch and you can't drive in this kind of race unless you've practiced a lot.'

'That's right,' Izumi said, 'even Masashi-san's been training himself for months!'

'Also,' Masashi continued, 'Mitsuri's Leone has an FF layout and you know very well what that means.'

'I know,' Bunta said, looking almost bored by the whole thing, 'it theoretically has an advantage because it can cope with the oversteering better than FR cars can by just using the gas pedal but, I don't really care about what the other car can do.'

'Bunta…' Yuuichi started again.

'Besides,' Bunta said, ignoring his best friend's attempt at talking some sense into him, 'I've also been practicing and I think I've come up with a way to clear the corners without having to steer quite so much.'

'You've what?' Masashi asked him while the rest of the guys either gasped or expressed their absolute incredulity. Bunta ignored all of the whispering and muttering as well and, glancing at Yuuichi, he said:

'When you told me about the Gumtape Deathmatch, I started driving down Mt Akina's pass, keeping my right hand glued onto the steering wheel, just to see how difficult it truly was. I must say that at first it was challenging for I couldn't get the car to drift as I'm used to but…'

'Wait a minute,' Izumi interrupted him making Bunta turn to face the slightly older guy, 'are you trying to tell us that you're drifting even with the hand stuck onto the steering wheel?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied, 'how else do you test how much control you have over the car? Anyway, with the hand fixed onto the wheel, I kind of found it easier clearing the corners by drifting around them rather than driving by grip.'

At this point, everyone's disbelief reached a historical high level and some of the guys started eyeing Bunta as though as if he were some sort of alien that had just landed with his spaceship.

'Alright,' Masashi managed to say, 'I'd say you can race in my place.'

'Yeah,' Izumi breathed exchanging an almost concerned look with his team's leader. He also felt rather grateful that Bunta didn't consider any of the Akina Firebolts his enemy, otherwise.

In any case, about ten minutes before the scheduled time, they heard a few cars coming up the road and, soon enough, they saw the headlights of the red Subaru Leone which was followed by six other cars, all of them members of the same Myogi street racing team.

'Hello,' Shun Mitsuri said to everyone as soon as he climbed out of his car, after leaving it ready to start the race. Then, noticing the rudimentary bandage that Masashi had placed around his wounded left hand, he frowned and asked, 'what happened to you?'

'Er…well…' Masashi hesitated covering his left hand with his right one, 'I had a little accident with the bonnet's cover,' he finally replied.

'You won't be able to race me,' Mitsuri said in what was more a statement than a question.

'No,' Masashi replied then, putting his right hand onto Bunta's left shoulder, he said, 'but he's offered himself to race in my place, if you don't have anything against it, that is.'

'You?' Mitsuri asked looking at Bunta.

'Yep, me,' Bunta replied offering the Myogi guy his trademark ironic half grin, 'unless you have a problem with that.'

'Why should I?' Mitsuri asked, returning the smirk, 'just so you know: even though you're rather young and probably inexperienced in this kind of races, I'm not going to do you any favours.'

After hearing this, some of the Firebolts had quite a lot of trouble keeping their faces straight.

'I wasn't expecting any,' Bunta replied firmly then, his ironic grin turning into a smug smile, he added, 'because I'm not going to do you any favours either.'

With this and leaving Mitsuri, and everyone else for that matter, with their mouth agape, Bunta turned round and made his way back to his Toyota, his left hand stuffed in the back pocket of his jeans while he swivelled the keys to the 2000GT around the index finger of his right one.

'Un-freaking-believable,' Izumi whispered to a mortified looking Yuuichi.

'This is going to be interesting,' Mitsuri commented to Masashi, 'you know,' he added, 'I've got a confession to make: I've wanted a race with that boy ever since I saw him racing that guy from Tochigi.'

Masashi simply nodded to that not really knowing what else to do then, hearing the Toyota's powerful engine come alive, he turned to see as Bunta drove his car to place it right next to the red Leone. Then, one of the guys from Myogi approached the car with a roll of duct tape.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said while his best friend's right hand was being fixed onto the steering wheel, 'just be very careful, alright? I mean…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I know, don't worry: do you honestly think I'll let anything get anywhere near my car ever again?'

'Nope, of course not,' Yuuichi replied.

'Then, quit smothering,' Bunta said, a huge grin appearing on his face, 'I've been looking forward to this!'

'You're nuts,' Yuuichi said shaking his head but smiling too as he did so, 'but you know that already.'

'Yup, I do,' Bunta said then after the Myogi guy had finished working with the duct tape and using his only free hand, the left one, Bunta closed the door and started preparing himself for the race, leaving Yuuichi no option but to walk back to where the rest of the local boys were.

'How is he doing?' Masashi asked him.

'He's Bunta,' Yuuichi replied shrugging his shoulders, 'he's just doing as he usually does.'

'That's good to hear,' Masashi said then, they all turned their attention to the two cars as their drivers started testing the accelerator, giving gas to the engine alternatively, making it look as though as it were a bizarre roaring competition.

Fuka, who up to then had stayed aside for she didn't feel like none of what was happening was any of her business, walked towards Masashi and said:

'I'll do the countdown.'

Without waiting for an answer, the girl stepped in front of the two cars and, raising her right hand, she started counting from ten to one, lowering her arm as she shouted them the go, feeling the sudden rush of wind when the two cars darted past them, almost making her fall onto the ground as they did so.

'Oh no,' Yuuichi muttered.

'I knew it,' Izumi said while everyone's gaze focused on the two quickly disappearing vehicles observing, to the Firebolts dismay, that Bunta's Toyota hadn't managed to take the lead, being forced to follow the Leone around the very first corner of Mt Akina's pass.

'Guys,' Masashi protested, 'it's still too early to be this pessimistic.'

'That's right,' Yuuichi said, 'he'll do something. I'm sure of it...or I hope,' he then added hating the happy but smug expressions sported by quite a few of the guys from Myogi. The teenager found himself praying, not so much for a victory but more so that Bunta would end the race in one piece.

Meanwhile and after adjusting his driving the way he'd learned during the four nights he'd been practicing, Bunta cleared one of the right-handers with more or less as much ease as he usually did when he had the full use of both of his hands.

'Not too bad,' he muttered, 'but I have to do better than this.'

Using one of the rare long straights of the road, he allowed himself a brief moment so that he could pay attention to the car in front of his. The Subaru entered the following corner and Bunta noticed that Mitsuri's driving was surprisingly aggressive for someone who looked as calm and collected as the guy did.

Following the Leone into the left-hander, Bunta turned the wheel to steer his car the first handful of degrees he needed before, using the weight sifting technique he'd learned during the previous week, he managed to send the car into a carefully controlled four-wheel drift.

He then saw that the tail of the Subaru shook in an almost imperceptible way half way through each corner, making Bunta think that the guy was probably using the handbrake in order to minimise the understeering typical of the cars which had an FF layout.

'Very clever,' Bunta said, 'but not enough…'

Right then, taking the chance they were finally approaching the first of the infamous series of five hairpins, he stopped following the same racing line the Subaru was in, moving slightly outwards, getting dangerously close to the guardrail.

As he had expected, and hoped, the Leone stuck to its line, driving around the corner using the inner-most section of the tarmac and therefore leaving the outside of the hairpin completely free for Bunta who, without thinking twice about it and using just two thirds of the outer lane, started a drift which took him around the Subaru.

Bunta let out a soft laugh when he saw, thanks to the 2000GT's headlights, the expression of utter disbelief of the poor Mitsuri who also looked understandably astonished seeing his rival perform such an unorthodox manoeuvre. That probably made him lower his concentration level for a precious instant and Bunta hurried to use up that chance to get his car ahead of the Subaru.

'Yes!' he exclaimed happily as he pressed the accelerator so that he could get to the following hairpin, clearing it using the very same move he'd used to overtake the Leone in what was a subconscious way of showing Mitsuri that it hadn't been all luck.

With the two cars busy clearing the fifth and final hairpin, Bunta started thinking that, if he wanted to win this race, he really needed to increase the gap with his opponent for he seriously doubted Mitsuri would give up quite this easily.

He didn't even have the time to finish the thought when he noticed that the Leone's headlights had disappeared from his rear view mirror and, going to check the one at his right, he saw them there, with Mitsuri pushing his Subaru as fast as it went so that he could level his car with that of Bunta.

'Ah no,' he said, accelerating even more so that he could get into the following corner, a fast right-hander, just a couple of seconds before the Leone. Distracted as he was by the whole thing, Bunta failed to notice that he had driven the left side of the car way too close to the guardrail and, before he could do anything to prevent it, he felt as the rear bumper grazed the metallic barrier.

The result was as unpredictable as it was pleasant: his car, instead of being sent into an incontrollable spin, just propelled itself across the corner with Bunta only needing to adjust his pedal work a little so that he could exit the turn as fast as he usually did.

'Lucky,' Bunta muttered with a half a grin curving his lips.

He then decided to try again at the following corner, a left-hander one, just to see if he managed to repeat it voluntarily. Removing from his mind the fact that he still had a very determinate Mitsuri tailing him, Bunta entered the turn just as he had done at the previous one, sending the right side of his car towards the guardrail.

It worked.

Using that move Bunta realised that, not only it became easier to get the car around the corner but, in fact, he could clear them a lot faster than just by using the weight shifting technique: combining them both made it possible for him to increase the gap with the Subaru almost effortlessly.

With that and by the time they reached the finish line, the distance between the two cars was so wide that Bunta had the time to stop his car and start unbinding his hand from the steering wheel before Mitsuri reached him. All in all, this Gumtape Deathmatch had been quite a lot of fun…

'I knew it,' Mitsuri said once he too was free of the tape and both drivers were out of their rides, 'I knew that racing you would feel this great…'

'What?' a very confused Bunta asked.

'I'm sorry about what I said about you not being experienced enough,' Mitsuri replied, 'it's quite clear to me that you've been practicing this kind of scenario for months. Take that move you did with the guardrails for instance: I really wasn't expecting you to be quite so bold.'

'I've got a confession to make,' Bunta said scratching his cheek with his index finger, 'I didn't really mean to do it the first time, it just kind of happened.'

Mitsuri looked at him in disbelief for a few moments before letting out a very loud chuckle.

'You're too much!' he exclaimed patting Bunta's shoulder so hard that it almost made the teenager fall flat onto his face, 'you really are going to be scary once you get older.'

'Thanks, I think,' Bunta said while rubbing the spot where Mitsuri had 'playfully' hit him, 'if you want,' he then added, 'we could have a re-match at Myogi.'

'Oh no,' Mitsuri replied, 'I think I'll wait till your leader gets better so I can race him instead, mind you,' he then added pointing at the mountain he had at his back, 'I don't think I'm ever going to race in here ever again.'

'Why not?' Bunta asked him.

'Because this is the only place where I've lost not one, but two races: I don't think my pride could cope with a third loss in here…'

After saying that the guy walked back to his Leone, driving back up and leaving Bunta there so that he could deal with the people who were now coming to congratulate him in what was his sixth consecutive win. He, of course, wasn't counting his race against Kogashiwa in Irohazaka for it hadn't had a proper ending.

Yet.

Bunta thought about this when he climbed back into his 2000GT so that he could drive back up to the summit to celebrate his victory properly. He really needed to get in touch with Kogashiwa again so that he could challenge him to another race in Irohazaka so that they could settle things for once and for all.

'You really are amazing,' Yuuichi told Bunta the minute he reached the top of the pass and even before he had the time to unfasten his seatbelt, 'Mitsuri just told his guys what happened…'

'I don't know what you did,' Masashi said, 'but he was so impressed by your driving skills that he's told everyone not to be so foolish as to challenge you to a race in here.'

'This means,' Izumi intervened, 'that you'll probably end up with a long list of people who'll want to race you in Akina.'

'Great,' Bunta said only half-sarcastically, 'bring it on!'

This made everyone of the Akina Firebolts burst out laughing. Soon, everyone seemed to be having fun and enjoying themselves except Yuuichi who, for some reason, looked a tad on the downcast side while he observed Bunta who was talking animatedly with two other local guys.

'Are you alright?' Fuka asked him, placing her hand onto his left arm.

'Yep,' Yuuichi replied not sounding convincing enough.

'He's getting rather good, isn't he?' the girl asked, using what she probably believed a very neutral tone of voice, as though as she was trying very hard not to hurt her boyfriend's feelings.

'He's a freaking monster,' Yuuichi replied shaking his head, 'you know what scares me the most?' he then asked her, Fuka shook her head and he said, 'that I think he's not fully aware of how good he is. I have the impression that half of the stuff he pulls out, he does it without really knowing what he's doing.'

'Why is that scary?' Fuka asked him.

'Because I'm terrified of how he'll be once he realises the tremendous amount of talent he has,' Yuuichi replied looking at his girlfriend's beautiful face with a very concerned frown, 'it makes me wonder if…'

'Yuuichi,' Fuka interrupted him, 'I don't think you've got to worry about Bunta-kun. He's not the kind of guy who'll get all big-headed just because he's good at doing something.'

'I hope you're right,' Yuuichi said.

'Of course I am,' the girl said then, giving him a quick peck on his cheek, she took his hand and started dragging him towards where the rest of the group was so that the two of them could join in the celebrations as well.

A week later, on a rather mild Saturday afternoon, Yuuichi and Fuka, most of the Akina Firebolts and Bunta were all sitting inside the small ceremony hall inside the hotel located on top of Mt Akina that, coincidentally, was Eikichi's most important customer.

They were all waiting for Shinobu and Momoko to arrive from the shrine where, together with their closest relatives, the couple was now exchanging their marriage vows.

'They're here!' a pretty girl exclaimed excitedly, she was probably one of Momoko's work colleagues because none of the Akina Firebolts seemed to know her. In any case, the large doors slid open letting in the newly married couple who entered followed by the two sets of proud looking parents.

'Congratulations,' Masashi said patting the groom on his shoulder.

'Thanks,' Shinobu said, 'I'm happy the ceremony's over though,' he whispered to his long term friend, low enough so only he could hear him.

'I can imagine,' Masashi replied and the two of them glanced over where Shinobu's brand new wife was, busy talking to her friends who were clearly admiring her beautifully crafted kimono.

'She looks amazing,' Fuka said talking to Shinobu.

'I know,' the former leader of the Akina Firebolts said, 'I'm a very lucky man.'

'In more sense than one,' Masashi teased him indicating Momoko's father with his head.

'Yeah,' Shinobu agreed, 'it was very good of my father-in-law not to kill me when he found out that Momoko's pregnant. Thankfully, they were so happy about becoming grandparents that he kind of forgot to beat the crap out of me.'

Everyone started laughing, including Bunta who only stopped when he overheard the conversation that was going on between Takabe and Yamada, two members of the Firebolts. He only paid attention to it when Yamada mentioned the name of who he now considered his biggest rival.

'Sorry for interrupting,' Bunta said to the two of them, 'but, what were you saying about Kogashiwa?'

'Haven't you heard?' Yamada asked him.

'Nope,' Bunta replied.

'Well,' Takabe said, 'it only happened last night so, it's normal if you don't know yet.'

'Know what?' an increasingly impatient Bunta asked.

'He's at the hospital,' Takabe replied 'apparently, he was training himself to challenge you and he crashed his car quite badly.'

'What happened to him?' Yuuichi, coming out of nowhere asked, looking almost as worried as Bunta did.

'We're not too sure,' Yamada explained, 'I heard this from a guy from Tochigi I'm friends with. He said something about a broken leg.'

'Bunta!' Yuuichi exclaimed seeing that his best friend had turned round and was about to storm out of the room, 'where are you going?' he said grabbing Bunta by his arm so that he could not leave.

'I'm going to check if this is true,' he replied.

'No, wait…' Yuuichi started but it was too late: Bunta had already snatched his arm free and was now rushing towards the door.

_To be continued…_


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Twenty Seven_

Bunta heard Yuuichi's voice calling out his name even before he had made it all the way across the car park where his car was and, for a reason that was beyond him, he found himself actually stopping so he could wait for Yuuichi to catch up with him.

'What do you want?' Bunta asked his best friend without turning round to face him.

'Where are you going?' Yuuichi asked back.

'I've already told you,' Bunta replied, this time turning his head just enough so that he could look at Yuuichi, who sported a very anxious expression, 'I'm going to check if what Yamada said it's true.'

'And how are you going to do that?' Yuuichi asked, crossing his arms on his chest and adopting a most I'm-the-class-representative stance.

'Er…'

'I mean,' he carried on, 'you don't even know to which hospital he's been brought in and…'

'Doesn't he live in Nikko?' Bunta interrupted him, now turning his body too so that it would face the same direction as his head.

'Yes, but…'

'He crashed his car at Irohazaka, didn't he?'

'Yes…'

'How many freaking hospitals are there in that area?' Bunta then asked.

'Well…' Yuuichi replied, his brain slowly beginning to get his friend's point, 'I don't know for sure but…'

'I'd be surprised if there were more than one,' Bunta finished for him, 'so I just need to find that one hospital and I will probably find Kogashiwa there.'

Yuuichi took a deep breath, unable to believe that, once again, Bunta had dismantled any reasoning he might have come up with by using his almost indestructible logic. For this reason, he looked down at the ground between his feet for a short instant before he looked back at his schoolmate.

'Alright,' he finally said, 'wait here. I'm coming with you.'

'What?' Bunta asked, 'no way…I…'

'Look,' Yuuichi said, 'you're going to need me.'

'What would I need you for?' Bunta asked him, his eyebrows starting to form a frown.

'Trust me on this one,' Yuuichi replied, 'you'll need me and, I need to tell Fuka that I'm leaving her here alone temporarily.'

'Alright…' Bunta replied looking a tad on the reluctant side.

'On second thoughts,' Yuuichi said putting his hand forward, palm up, 'give me the keys to your car.'

'Why?' a frowning Bunta asked.

'Because that way I'll make sure you'll wait for me,' Yuuichi replied.

'Hey,' Bunta protested, 'I said alright, didn't I?' he said, 'don't you trust me?' he then added.

'Do I have to answer that?' Yuuichi asked back raising one of his eyebrows in an almost insufferable know-it-all kind of way.

'Geez, you sure are insistent,' Bunta complained but, despite that, he did pull the set of keys to his precious Toyota 2000GT out of the front pocket of his tailored trousers, probably the smartest pair he owned, and handing them to Yuuichi, he asked 'there, happy?'

'Sure,' he replied taking them from him, turning then round so that he could run back to the hotel's small reception's hall where he only spent a couple of minutes informing Fuka, and everyone else for that matter, about Bunta's intentions, using up a few seconds to reassure them that he'd do his best to prevent Bunta from doing anything stupid.

'Good luck with that,' Masashi said winking his eye while some of the other Firebolts had quite the job containing their mirth, 'you're going to need it.'

'Thanks,' Yuuichi said and, with that, he rushed out so that he could go back to where Bunta was, finding him crossed-arm and tapping the ground with his right foot, making it look as though as he'd been waiting there for hours, instead of just a handful of minutes.

'About bloody time,' he complained, literally snatching the keys from Yuuichi's grasp and closing the short distance which separated him from his beloved vehicle, unlocking the door, climbing in and removing the locking device from the inside of the passenger's side so that Yuuichi could also get in the car.

The two of them remained in silence while Bunta drove from Akina all the way to Gunma's neighbouring prefecture of Tochigi, finding the route towards Irohazaka very easily since Bunta had been there quite a few times already.

'That should be it,' Yuuichi commented pointing at a sign with a huge H which clearly indicated that a hospital was about one kilometre away from where they were.

'See, what did I say?' Bunta asked him rhetorically then, without waiting for an answer, he added, 'I still don't see the point of you coming with me…'

'What are you going to do once you do see Kogashiwa?' Yuuichi asked him instead, choosing very wisely to ignore Bunta's provocative tone of voice.

'Er…'

'You don't know?'

'Well…I…'

'Bunta, don't tell me we've come all the way here and you don't even know what you want to do once you see him,' Yuuichi said.

'The thing is,' Bunta started, using his left index finger to scratch his cheek, 'I haven't really thought about it….I just kind of…'

Yuuichi's burst of laughter suffocated anything he may have said and, frowning, Bunta waited till his best friend stopped laughing, doing so only as they saw the entrance of what very obviously was Nikko's hospital.

'Are you done?' Bunta then asked him, sounding rather annoyed.

'You really are too much,' Yuuichi commented wiping a single tear from his right eye, 'in any case,' he continued, 'it's too late now, we're already here and, provided that Kogashiwa's in this hospital as we think, you won't have too long to figure out what to say to him once you see him.'

'Now that you mention it,' Bunta said, frowning even more, 'how exactly are we going to see him? I mean, we're not his relatives or anything and…'

'That's what you needed me for,' Yuuichi cut him off, 'just park your car there and leave the rest to me,' he added pointing an empty spot in what was a remarkably busy car park which was near the hospital's main entrance.

By some sort of miracle, Bunta decided to do as he was told and, leaving everything in his best friend's hands, he just followed Yuuichi all the way to the medical centre's reception where they found a middle aged, motherly kind of nurse who smiled at Yuuichi the minute she saw him.

'Excuse me,' the young man said, using an extremely polite tone of voice, one that Bunta had only heard him use when talking to one of their school teachers, 'have they brought a Kogashiwa Ken in the last few hours?'

'Give me a minute and I'll check,' the nurse replied, still smiling at him then, she went to check a huge notebook she had in front of her where they probably registered all the hospital's admittances then, after only a few instants, she looked up from that and said, 'yes son, there's a Kogashiwa Ken in here, is he a friend of yours?'

'No,' Yuuichi said, 'he's our cousin,' he added making Bunta's eyes widen for just a fraction of a second, 'my younger brother and I just found out he's had an accident.'

'I see,' the nurse replied, looking very much like she had believed every single word, 'I'll make sure someone takes you to see him, alright?'

'Sure,' Yuuichi said then, as if it had all been part of a carefully crafted script, he frowned anxiously and added, 'by the way, you don't happen to know if he's hurt himself badly, do you?'

'He's just got a broken leg,' the nurse hurried to reply, getting up from her chair so that she could put a hand onto Yuuichi's cheek, 'but don't worry about it, sweetie, your cousin will be fine.'

'That's good to hear,' Yuuichi said, 'thank you very much for everything,' he then added with a deep bow which, Bunta suspected, served more to get rid of the woman's hand than as a courteous gesture. He also found himself looking down at the floor because he was beginning to fear that he would burst out laughing if he stared at the nurse's face for much longer.

A few instants later, they followed another nurse to the third floor of the hospital where they were taken to the door of the room number 205 where, they both saw, Kogashiwa's name had been written on a tag that had been stuck into a holder by the door's side.

'He's just had his meal so he should be awake,' the nurse informed him, 'but don't make him get too excited, okay?'

'Sure,' a still very serious looking Yuuichi replied and, after nodding at him once, the nurse just left them alone walking back towards the elevator. Only once she was out of hearing range, Bunta allowed himself to start sniggering, 'what's so funny?' Yuuichi asked him.

'You,' Bunta replied, 'if I had known you were such a good liar.'

'I'm not a liar,' Yuuichi said, 'I'm just good at making things look the way I want them to. How do you think I got to be class representative?'

'I don't think I want to know,' Bunta replied giving him a smirk.

'Alright then,' Yuuichi said pretending to be hurt by that, even though a small smile betrayed his true feelings, 'shall we go in or what?' he then asked.

'Sure,' Bunta replied pushing the door open, finding that inside the room there were only two beds, of which just one was currently occupied. Ken Kogashiwa was in a supine position, with his right leg hoisted up by a complicated mechanism and with only a few cuts and bruises on his arms and the side of the face they could see from there.

Hearing the door open, Ken turned his head round and both Bunta and Yuuichi saw his eyes first widen, then narrow as the guy frowned at them.

'What in the fuck are you doing in here?' was his not so kind greeting.

'Just paying you a visit,' Yuuichi replied.

'How did you…'

'We're your new cousins,' Bunta interrupted him then, seeing the expression in his rival's face, he couldn't help but to say, 'I know, I feel as disgusted as you do at the thought of us being related at all, even if we're just pretending.'

'Bunta!' Yuuichi admonished him.

'Get out!' Kogashiwa exclaimed angrily, wincing as he did so for he probably had upset one of his numerous wounds in the process.

'In a second,' Bunta said, 'I just wanted to confirm the rumours and to tell you this: I don't care how long it takes for you to get better but, I'll wait for you so that we can settle things for once and for all.'

'What?' a much calmer, but very much shocked Ken asked, 'what are you talking about?'

'Look,' Bunta said, 'I'm aiming for something quite big but, before I can do that, I want to race you so I can beat you fairly and squarely.'

'Who says I'm going to let you win?' Ken challenged him.

'No one,' Bunta replied shrugging his shoulders, 'but if I can't beat you, I won't be able to move on so I think I've got quite an incentive in here, don't you think?'

With that, and not even allowing him to reply, Bunta turned round and strode out of the room, leaving a very confused Ken behind and with Yuuichi with no option left but to just look at the guy apologetically before rushing out of the room too.

The two friends then made it back to the car, feeling grateful that the middle-aged nurse they had seen earlier was no longer behind her desk, having been replaced by someone else, so they didn't have to explain the reason of the brevity of their visit.

'Are you happy now?' Yuuichi asked him while they were both driving back to Shibukawa.

'Yep,' Bunta replied.

'That's good to hear,' Yuuichi said, 'listen,' he then added, 'I haven't told anyone yet but, I'm thinking of issuing a challenge too.'

'A challenge?' Bunta asked him, removing his gaze from the road for just long enough to look at his friend, 'who are you going to challenge?'

'Watanabe Makoto,' Yuuichi replied monitoring his friend very closely, trying to detect any sign that would warn him that Bunta was about to start laughing. That didn't happen so, he asked, 'what do you think?'

'I think it's a brilliant idea,' Bunta replied, returning his eyes to the road before he asked, 'where do you want to race him?'

'I'm not too sure,' Yuuichi replied, 'I mean, I'd love to race him in Akina but, yet again, that's my home course and…'

'I'd race him in Akagi,' Bunta announced, 'after all, it's always better if you beat him in his own turf, isn't it?'

'That's what I thought,' Yuuichi admitted, 'it's only that after losing to Kogashiwa in there, I don't feel like I've practiced in Akagi enough to be confident about racing anyone again anytime soon.'

'You know what the solution to that problem is, don't you?' Bunta asked smiling in a very sly manner then, seeing Yuuichi's nod, he added, 'let's go there tonight so we can start practicing, alright?'

Seeing his best friend's enthusiastic expression made Bunta laugh softly while he thought that, he too, could do with a session of some serious driving somewhere that wasn't Mt Akina for, by know, he really knew that road like the back of his hand.

Two weeks after Shinobu's wedding and, despite the fact that it was definitely getting rather chilly, most of the Akina Firebolts along with Bunta and a very nervous looking Fuka joined Yuuichi at Mt Akagi where Watanabe Makoto and his jet black Mitsubishi Cold GTO were waiting for him, together with quite a few other people who were there to see what it probably was the last of the snow-free races.

'I must say,' the Akagi racer said to Yuuichi, 'I was very surprised to receive this challenge from you.'

'I'm just happy you accepted it,' he replied making Bunta want to kick him in the butt for showing himself so freaking vulnerable, 'in any case, I've been practicing here a lot so, don't do me any favours, alright?'

That was better, Bunta thought.

'Don't worry,' Makoto assured him, throwing a glance towards Bunta, 'I've learned the hard way that underestimating you Akina boys is never a good idea.'

That provoked quite a few chuckles and sniggers coming from the Firebolts.

'Alright then,' Yuuichi said, 'shall we go up or down?'

'Your call,' Makoto replied, 'it doesn't matter to me but, I do find that going downhill is a lot more fun.'

'Downhill it is then,' Yuuichi said, feeling rather proud of himself when he noticed Bunta's approving nod. He then walked towards Fuka and, kissing her briefly on her cheek, he added, 'do you mind if I go up by myself?'

'No, don't worry,' Fuka said, 'I think I'll stay here with the guys, anyway.'

'Alright,' Yuuichi replied, thinking that, after all, it made sense she did so since she had actually known Masashi and the rest of the Firebolts for longer than she had known him, 'Bunta?'

'I'm going up with you,' he replied.

'Thanks,' Yuuichi said.

Twenty minutes later, up at an almost deserted summit, the dark blue, twin stripped Mazda Capella and the black GTO were lined up facing downhill while Bunta had placed his car just behind them, ready to start following them a few instants after the two cars would take off.

'I hope you don't mind this,' Yuuichi said to Makoto while the two racers, together with Bunta, stood between the Mitsubishi and the Mazda.

'I have no problems with having him going after us,' Makoto replied then, offering Bunta an amused smirk, he added, 'I just hope he doesn't overtake us while he's at it.'

Bunta put both of his hands up and, trying to look as innocent as possible, failing rather miserably, he said:

'I'll be a good boy, I promise.'

Both Makoto and Yuuichi looked at each other, finding it almost hilarious that their faces expressed the same amount of scepticism then, after that, some guy who was friends with Makoto, one of the few people who were actually up there and who would act as the countdown man, reminded them that they were supposed to start the race.

'Show him what you can do,' Bunta muttered to his best friend before walking back to his car so he too could climb behind its steering wheel. It wasn't that Bunta thought that Yuuichi wasn't a good enough driver but, it was a fact that Yuuichi's lack of self-confidence was his worst flaw.

Then and while he observed the countdown man go through the usual pre-race ritual, Bunta fervently hoped that his friend could win this race for an away victory would surely give a much needed boost to Yuuichi's ego. However, this hope seemed to vanish when the two racers were given the go.

'What the…' Bunta started, seeing how badly behind Makoto had left the poor Yuuichi whose car looked now like it was desperately trying to catch up with the Mitsubishi, 'come on, Yuuichi!' he exclaimed while turning his Toyota's engine on so that he too could start driving downhill.

Bunta never pushed it too much, deciding to leave a significant gap between himself and the two contenders so that, heavens forbid, if any of the two crashed his car he would still have enough time to stop.

Meanwhile, Yuuichi was trying his best to keep up with his rival's driving observing that, as usual, Makoto wasn't drifting, choosing to clear the corner in what was a rather uninteresting but, yet again, highly efficient manner.

Since his drifting wasn't all that good either, Yuuichi chose to remain stuck right behind the GTO, praying for all that was holy that an opportunity would come his way soon so that he could pass Makoto and show him, and even more importantly, Bunta, that he too could be a winner.

Unfortunately for Yuuichi, Makoto was very much determined to win this race too for, having lost the last three battles he'd been involved in, he had no intentions whatsoever of letting his rival overtake him, staying stubbornly ahead of the Mazda throughout the whole course.

A very desperate Yuuichi was about to give up trying when, right at the last corner, he remembered what had happened to him during his race against Kogashiwa in this very same course when the guy from Tochigi had overtaken him when there were just a few metres to get to the finish line.

Going against his best judgement, Yuuichi detached himself from the back of the GTO as the two cars prepared themselves to enter the right-hander and, just as he had seen Bunta do quite a few times, he veered towards the outside of the corner, pressing the poor Mazda's accelerator pedal so much further down that he felt it touch the floor.

'Come on, please…' he found himself begging while he fought with the steering wheel with all his might.

He tried.

He really did.

But it wasn't enough.

Makoto Watanabe and his Mitsubishi crossed the finish line with half a car of advantage, making Yuuichi feel like he wanted to burst into tears. How could he have lost again? This was his third race and it was the third time he'd lost…

'You did really well,' he heard Bunta say once he'd gathered the courage he needed to get out of his car. Had Bunta been someone else, Yuuichi would have probably got pretty pissed off at the comment but, hearing the honesty in his friend's voice, knowing very well how rare that was, made Yuuichi nod.

'I still have lots more to work on,' he said.

'You do,' Bunta agreed, 'but here's the good news: I'm going to spend the whole winter training myself to get better and, you're welcome to practice with me.'

Not even Fuka's consolation kiss made Yuuichi feel better than hearing those words.

_To be continued…_


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Twenty Eight_

For what had to be the umpteenth time that cold night of mid-February, Yuuichi found himself swearing viciously as he tried rather unsuccessfully to follow the line that Bunta's 2000GT was currently tracing around one of Akina's five hairpins.

'He's crazy, I tell you,' he whispered to the steering wheel of his dark blue Mazda without pausing to consider that talking to a car didn't say much about his own mental health either.

In any case, Yuuichi felt grateful that his best friend, not only allowed him to be there with him during his nightly training sessions but that he was actually helping him to get better and, after just a few months of constant practice, Yuuichi was beginning to see a remarkable improvement in the quality of his driving.

To start with, he no longer felt nervous while tackling a corner while going well above the speed limit and we was definitely a lot more confident with his skills which, still, were nowhere near as good as Bunta's. Just now, for instance, he watched the nearly perfect way his best friend exited the corner it being a clear proof of how much Bunta was in control of his vehicle.

They were a unit: the car being a mere extension of Bunta's body.

That was exactly how it seemed to Yuuichi and to anyone who'd been fortunate enough to see the way the crazy young man made his car drift, making the tyres glide onto the tarmac so effortlessly that it made it look like he was flying over the road.

At long last, they parked both of their cars next to the vending machine at the base where they stopped during their breaks so that they could enjoy a nice, warming can of coffee.

'You're getting faster,' Bunta said between sips.

'Yeah, right,' was Yuuichi's highly sceptical reply, all the while trying to hide the fact that he was very pleased hearing one of his best friend's rare praises, 'you still managed to get here before I did but, again, your car's more powerful so…'

Bunta interrupted him with a loud, short laugh.

'…okay, okay,' Yuuichi continued, 'I know what you always say about the fact that the car's power doesn't really matter while going downhill but…'

'Alright,' Bunta said all of a sudden, 'I've got an idea: give me your keys.'

'My keys?' Yuuichi asked him, now looking and sounding rather alarmed, even more so seeing that Bunta was actually handing him the keys to his own Toyota, 'what do you want to do?' he then asked.

'Easy,' Bunta replied, 'I'll race you uphill. Only that I'll be driving your car and you'll be driving mine.'

Yuuichi stared at his best friend with his mouth agape for a few instants then, he closed his jaw, squinted his eyes and tilted his head just a bit, waiting for the moment when Bunta would just laugh and tell him that he was only kidding.

'Come on,' Bunta said instead, 'we haven't got all night!'

'Are you serious?' Yuuichi dared to ask him.

'Yup,' Bunta replied, 'like I said, you're getting faster and, I don't think there's anyone else besides my uncle who I would trust my car with.'

Only he could say something as touching as that using such a condescending tone and get away with it, Yuuichi thought as he finally gave his keys up to Bunta while taking the Toyota's set from him.

'I'll take care of it, I promise,' he hurried to say, watching as Bunta walked towards the dark blue Mazda obtaining just a carefree shrug for all answer and noticing, with a certain degree of concern, that his school mate hadn't exchanged the same vow with him.

Nevertheless, Yuuichi climbed behind the steering wheel of the 2000GT, feeling in awe at the way the engine roared the instant he turned it on. Bunta hadn't owned the car for a year yet but every single part of the car seemed to have been through some sort of process to improve its performance.

'Let's do this,' Yuuichi said, again talking to the steering wheel while he rolled the car to place it besides his own Capella for, surprisingly enough, Bunta was still waiting for him so that the two young men could start driving uphill together as if it were a real race.

Wait, it is a real race! Yuuichi realised all of a sudden.

As on cue, he heard as Bunta gave more gas to the Mazda, probably wanting to test the revs then, Yuuichi saw him making a gesture which clearly meant for the two of them to start driving and, knowing his best friend as much as he did, Yuuichi didn't need to be told twice before he re-entered the first gear and got ready for his first, albeit unofficial, battle versus Bunta.

The two cars started driving uphill with Yuuichi so busy trying to bring the Toyota under his control that he missed the way Bunta was making the Mazda drift in a manner that not even its owner thought it possible. Soon enough, Yuuichi lost sight of his car as it disappeared around one of the first right-handers.

'Already?' he muttered, unable to stop himself from smiling even though he was starting to feel the sweat moistening his brow, caused by the sheer amount of effort he was making in order to keep the 2000GT on the road. Once again, Yuuichi was in awe thinking that Bunta made it look easy when, in reality, the Toyota was an extremely difficult car to drive.

In the end, the whole thing wasn't really a race after all, in fact, if one thought about it, it seemed more like an excuse for Bunta to try yet another car or, if Yuuichi wanted to be overoptimistic, a chance for Bunta to let his best friend delight himself driving the great sports car that was the 2000GT.

Either way, Yuuichi was very happy to have been given such an opportunity even though he only managed to get to the summit about a minute after Bunta did. For this reason, Yuuichi only shook his head while he parked the Toyota next to his own Mazda, seeing the patronising smile on Bunta's face while he waited for Yuuichi to climb out of the 2000GT.

'About time you got here,' Bunta said raising one of his eyebrows, 'I was beginning to think you had got lost…'

'Ha, ha, very funny,' Yuuichi laughed humourlessly, 'you haven't been here for so long!'

'Long enough,' Bunta countered, 'now, I think I've proven my point, haven't I?'

Yuuichi stared at his best friend for a short instant before, finally conceding defeat, he nodded a couple of times and said:

'Bunta, I know I'm going to regret saying this but, do you think you could drive my car downhill while I'm onboard?'

'Again?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes, please,' Yuuichi replied.

'But…'

'I'll try not to faint this time, I promise,' Yuuichi hurried to say and then he waited for Bunta to consider his answer for a few moments.

'Okay, fine,' Bunta said putting his hands up, 'but if you do faint, this time I'll leave you and your car here, got it?'

Yuuichi nodded repressing a chuckle as he recalled the last time he'd asked such a favour from his friend and how he had fainted quite embarrassingly. Not that he remembered any of it but Bunta had told Yuuichi that, while he was trying to wake him up, an old man who was driving a decrepit sedan down the road had stopped by and, thinking that Bunta was trying to rob Yuuichi, had got out of his car and had smacked Bunta on his head with a walking stick.

'I mean it,' Bunta continued rubbing the spot where the old man had hit him, 'it still hurts sometimes, you know?'

'Oh,' Yuuichi said, 'you're just exaggerating: that happened over a month ago!'

'Yeah, well,' Bunta countered, scratching his right cheek with his index finger, 'come on, get in the car before I change my mind…'

A few instants later, Bunta was back behind the steering wheel of the Mazda while Yuuichi prepared himself mentally for yet another of his best friend's kamikaze-like descents. He knew very well that, despite the fact that Bunta always seemed to be reticent when it came to driving with Yuuichi riding shotgun, he got quite the thrill at hearing Yuuichi's not-so-discreet gasps of shock or dismay while they flew around Akina's downhill corners.

'See?' Bunta asked him while, using only one hand, he made the car drift around a very sharp but fast left-hander, 'now, you just need to let the car slide like this and…'

'P-please,' Yuuichi said with a very strained-sounding voice, 'p-put your…your hand...'

'What about it?' Bunta asked him a tad too innocently and, to Yuuichi's alarm, he removed the one hand he did have on the steering wheel, putting it and its partner in front of his face.

'B-bunta!' Yuuichi exclaimed feeling like he was about to faint after all, 'y-your hands!'

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'what about them? They seem fine to me,' he added while observing his two hands carefully which, still, were nowhere near the steering wheel.

'P-please…' Yuuichi begged, praying for all that was holy that his friend would put his hands onto the steering wheel before he actually had a heart attack. For all reply, Bunta let out a very amused chuckle before, at long last, grasping the steering wheel so that he could exit the corner and prepare for the following one.

'Yuuichi, you're not fun,' he then complained laughing as he did so, meanwhile poor Yuuichi tried to stop himself from hyperventilating.

By the time they got to the base, Yuuichi had only learned one new thing about his best friend's driving techniques: the better he got, the more confident of his skills Bunta was, the crazier he became. Also, there was no way on earth Yuuichi could possibly get to Bunta's level, ever. No matter how much he practiced…

'Hey,' Bunta said once they got back to the summit and before he climbed into his Toyota, 'I'm proud of you, you know?'

'You are?' a still shaky Yuuichi asked, feeling suddenly confused.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'you kept your promise and you didn't faint this time. That's a very good start.'

Yuuichi felt his jaw drop while he watched his friend get behind the steering wheel of his beautiful 2000GT then, shaking his head a couple of times, he closed his mouth shut and walked around his own Capella so that he too could climb into it.

'He's mental,' he muttered while he turned his Mazda's engine on so that he could, once again, try and follow his best friend downhill.

Half an hour later, Bunta parked his car outside the tofu shop where, as usual, he found his uncle Eikichi preparing the night's delivery. What wasn't usual was the huge smile the older man had on his face and that made Bunta ask:

'What's up?'

'Oh nothing,' Eikichi replied, 'go to the living room and check the letter that's on the table, will you?'

'O-okay,' Bunta said and, leaving his jacket onto a nearby table, he walked towards the house's small entrance and kicked his shoes off so that he could pad towards the living room where, indeed, found an envelope on top of the only table present in the room.

Bunta didn't even need to open it to know the reason behind his uncle's happiness: printed onto the small envelope there was the logo of the organisation which took care of the Fuji Freshman Series' events and, pulling the letter from inside it, he scanned it as fast as he could so that he would have the confirmation about his suspicions.

'YES!' he exclaimed cheerfully while he ran back to the shop's working area, not caring about the fact that he was walking onto the cold, tiled floor wearing only his socks, 'Uncle Eikichi…'

'I told you you'd get in,' the older man said putting down the huge wooden spoon he had been using to stir the soy milk, 'now all we need is to make sure the car's ready to race.'

'It will be,' Bunta said, 'you know that Nitta-san's going to give us a hand and…'

He stopped speaking seeing the frown that had suddenly replaced his uncle's happy smile.

'Bunta,' Eikichi said, 'you know that I'm grateful your boss is willing to help you out but, I'd like for you to do as much as you can on your own, okay?'

'I know,' Bunta replied, 'he's just going to get me the parts I need, you know he's got some contacts who can get us some parts which aren't on the market…'

'Alright,' Eikichi interrupted him, clearly not very eager to continue this conversation, 'how are the training sessions going?' he then asked.

'I'm very close to breaking your record,' Bunta announced proudly, 'I just need to knock off a couple of seconds more and I'll be the fastest man in Akina.'

That made Eikichi grin happily once again and, instead of looking appalled by the fact that someone was about to break his twenty five year old record, he seemed to be very proud of his nephew. Then, tousling Bunta's jet black hair, he said:

'Good boy, now, go and get some rest, the deliveries won't wait for you!'

'Yes, sir,' Bunta replied while returning the smile.

Climbing up the stairs, taking two steps at the time, he finally got to his room where, without bothering to remove any of his clothes, he just laid onto his bed where he spent a few moments re-reading the letter where the Japanese Automobile Federation confirmed that his application for the Fuji Freshman Series had been accepted.

'Almost there,' he whispered to himself before turning off the lamp which was onto his bed side table. Then, turning round and with his hand still clasping the letter, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep.

A couple of days later and like every single Saturday evening, Bunta and Yuuichi met up Mt Akina's summit with a few of the Akina Firebolts. Bunta found it odd that Fuka wasn't there too and, for this reason and taking care that no one else would notice, he took Yuuichi aside and said:

'Where's your girlfriend?'

'Home,' he replied, 'she's studying for her finals.'

'Finals? What finals? Didn't she graduate last year?' Bunta asked him for, in fact Fuka, being a year older than they were, had finished high school the previous spring and, as far as he knew, she hadn't gone to university, preferring to work as a shop assistant instead.

'She's been attending a secretarial evening course,' Yuuichi explained, 'she wants to get a job at an office as soon as she finishes it.'

'Ah, I see,' Bunta replied.

'Speaking of finals,' Yuuichi said, 'we're going to have ours in less than a couple of weeks so I don't think I'll be able to go out quite so often.'

'Ah, that's too bad,' Bunta commented.

'Hey,' Yuuichi added, 'neither should you, you know?'

'Why not?' Bunta asked him, tilting his head sidewise and looking suddenly puzzled.

'Because you have to study too, idiot,' Yuuichi replied, 'you do want to graduate, don't you?'

'Yeah, I guess,' Bunta replied not sounding very convincing, 'I'm not too bothered about that, if you want me to be honest.'

'Bunta…'

Yuuichi never finished the sentence for Masashi choose that moment to call Bunta and the guy just walked away from him not even bothering with sparing a second look. Shaking his head in defeat, Yuuichi followed his best friend while he considered that, after all, Bunta was probably right about not being concerned regarding his studies.

He was on his way to become a professional racer and, if everything went as it should, Bunta would make enough money not to have to worry about something as trivial as his high school diploma.

'Really?' he heard Bunta ask Masashi.

'Yes,' the Akina Firebolts' leader replied, 'I spoke to my friend a couple of hours ago and he told me that we should go there tonight. If we leave now, we should get there before nine.'

'Great!' Bunta exclaimed, 'I owe you one Masashi.'

'What's going on?' Yuuichi asked the two men who, for some bizarre reason, looked at him with a very suspicious looking smile, 'guys?' he then added.

'You can thank me later,' Bunta said, 'now we have to hurry.'

'Hurry?' Yuuichi said, 'to go where?'

'Saitama,' Bunta replied.

'Why?' Yuuichi asked, feeling more and more confused and a bit on the scared side too for he was beginning to get rather frightened at the way his best friend and the Akina Firebolts' leader were grinning at him.

'Yuuichi,' Masashi said, 'we've got a surprise for you.'

'For me?' Yuuichi managed to ask.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'now, stop asking questions and get in your car, we really need to leave now or we'll be late…'

With that, and with Masashi ordering the Firebolts to climb into their respective rides, they all started driving downhill and towards the motorway which led to the neighbouring prefecture of Saitama, famous for being home to the Omiya Bonsai Village and of the Chichibu Shrine where they held the homonymous Night Festival, one of the country's three traditional float festivals.

More importantly, at least for the drivers of the ten cars which were currently making their way there, Saitama had quite a few great mountain roads, like the Tsuchizaka pass which currently was the home course of one of the several street racing teams that formed the Northern Saitama Alliance.

'What the…' Yuuichi muttered to himself as he saw the amount of people who stood at both sides of the road thinking that he hadn't seen such a big public ever since the last time they had been to Myogi. He was beginning to wonder against who Bunta would race this time when he saw a black Mazda R-100 parked next to a few other very well taken care of cars.

Standing by that Mazda, Yuuichi saw a rather tall guy, maybe a couple of years older than he was, talking to a couple of other guys, probably his mates Yuuichi decided while he thought that that was probably Bunta's next rival.

'Poor thing,' Yuuichi whispered while he parked his own Mazda, just behind Bunta's Toyota. He then climbed out of the car and was about to open his mouth to speak when Bunta said:

'Did you pay attention to the road?'

'W-what?' Yuuichi stuttered, 'why should I?'

'Don't worry about it,' Masashi told Bunta, 'they're probably going to allow him to get a few runs for practice.'

'That's right,' Izumi said while he too joined his friends, 'I doubt they'll make him race without letting him get familiar with the course first.'

'Wow,' Yuuichi finally said, putting both of his hands up, 'slow down for a minute, all of you,' he added while his skin started losing a bit of its usual colour, 'what in the heck is going on in here?'

'Nothing much,' Bunta replied shrugging his shoulders with nonchalance, 'Masashi and I have organised a race for you, that's all.'

'That's all?' Yuuichi repeated, his voice sounding almost unnaturally high pitched.

'Yep,' Masashi replied exchanging a brief look with Bunta and with both young men sporting the same, well-done expressions, as though as they were very proud of themselves for what they had accomplished, 'it's a great idea, isn't it?'

'NO!' Yuuichi exclaimed, 'of course it's not!' he added, fighting so that he could lower his tone of voice, 'are you two nuts?' he then asked hissing furiously.

'Hey,' Bunta complained, 'I thought you'd be happy.'

'Besides,' Masashi added, 'you can't say no now, we've already issued the challenge and that guy there has accepted it,' he said pointing at the guy who, coincidentally, was now walking towards them, followed by a few of his friends.

'Oh crap,' Yuuichi said and, for all reply, Bunta and the Firebolts just stifled an amused chuckle. Poor Yuuichi didn't have the time to protest for the local guy got there and, looking first at the Capella then at Yuuichi, he asked:

'I take you're Tachibana?'

'Yeah, that's me,' Yuuichi managed to reply.

'Good,' the guy said extending a hand so that Yuuichi would shake it, 'I'm happy you could make it here. I've been told you're quite the racer and I'm looking forward to racing you.'

'Are you?' Yuuichi asked while throwing a dirty look in Bunta and Masashi's direction.

'Yes,' the guy replied, 'my name's Iwase Satoshi; let's have a good battle, shall we?'

Yuuichi forced himself to nod as he shook the hand Iwase was offering him, all the while making a mental note to cause some serious pain to both Bunta and Masashi as soon as he could.

_To be continued…_


	30. Chapter Twenty Nine

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Twenty Nine_

Finding himself with very few other options available, Yuuichi decided to give in without uttering any further protests, closing the short distance which separated him from his car and using those few instants to take some much needed, deep calming breaths.

'Yuuichi,' he heard Bunta whisper just as he was going to climb into his car, making Yuuichi realise that his best friend had not left his side at all, 'you're going to be alright. The course itself is not as difficult as Akina and we both know you're doing very well in there.'

'It's different you know,' Yuuichi countered, 'all we do there is practice. I haven't had a serious race since…well, you know.'

'Listen to me, Yuuichi,' Bunta ordered him, adopting an abnormally serious tone of voice, 'you're good, all you need to learn is how to relax during a race.'

'Easier said than done,' he complained frowning in misery.

'I've got an idea,' Bunta announced all of a sudden, his usual half smirk returning to his face, 'imagine you're racing me.'

A short silence followed that, giving Yuuichi the time he needed to recover his ability to form a more or less coherent sentence so that he could ask:

'What in the heck are you talking about?'

'Easy,' an unfazed Bunta replied, 'just imagine I'm behind you, like when we drive down Mt Akina.'

Yuuichi never had the time to say anything else to that for, right at that instant he saw one of Iwase's friends, a handsome guy in his mid-twenties wearing some old, grease-stained mechanic overalls who was walking towards them.

'If you're ready,' he said, 'we've cleared the course for you so you can get a few practice runs.'

'I appreciate it,' Yuuichi replied, 'I'll get back as soon as I can,' he added with a tiny smile which looked confident enough to make Bunta feel rather proud of his friend. Both of them saw as the guy nodded before he turned round to walk back to where Iwase was then, without exchanging a single word with Bunta, Yuuichi climbed into his car and, at long last, he turned the Mazda's engine on.

Bunta re-joined Masashi and the rest of the Akina Firebolts who were standing near the entrance of a short tunnel and, from there they all observed the fairly fast but very conservative manner in which Yuuichi attacked the first of the downhill corners.

'How's he?' Masashi asked Bunta.

'He'll be fine,' Bunta replied.

Less than an hour later, they saw Yuuichi driving back up from what was his fourth downhill run and, without climbing out of his car, he just did a three point turn and lined his car in front of the other Mazda on the very narrow road which came straight out of the tunnel.

'He's going to start in front,' Reiji, one of the Firebolts, said using a very disapproving tone for, in his opinion, that was a clear sign that they were underestimating Yuuichi.

'Of course he is,' Masashi replied, 'Iwase's the local in here and he happens to be a very nice guy so it's only polite of him to let Yuuichi start the race ahead.'

'Now that I think of it,' Bunta commented, 'I'm not so sure if that's a good idea.'

'Why not?' Masashi asked him.

'Just a hunch of mine,' was Bunta's enigmatic reply and that made Masashi and the rest of the guys look at him, as though as if they were waiting for him to elaborate then, realising that he didn't seem to have any intentions whatsoever of doing so, they all decided to give up and returned their attention back to Yuuichi who was now getting ready for the race.

Five minutes later, the two cars started the race in a very neat manner, making Bunta notice that Iwase, while being an obviously fast driver, he was also rather fair by not pressuring Yuuichi right from the very start of the race.

'I still think that guy is underestimating Yuuichi,' Reiji whispered to Izumi.

'He's not,' Bunta countered firmly making Reiji turn sharply to look at him, his face showing some unidentified emotion which looked a lot like fear, 'he's just being nice,' he explained, 'I just hope this doesn't make Yuuichi let his guard down,' he then added.

'Is that what has you worried?' Masashi asked him.

'Maybe,' Bunta replied, again using an insufferably mysterious and cryptic tone of voice, 'I think I'm going to follow them, just in case.'

'Bunta…' Masashi started, interrupting himself seeing that the younger guy had already left, rushing towards his Toyota 2000GT, 'oh, that crazy kid.'

Meanwhile Bunta was starting the engine of his car, Yuuichi was kept busy by the subtle but constant pressure he now felt coming from the R-100, stealing a quick glance at the Capella's rear view mirror, he realised that the other car was a lot closer than it had been during the first few corners of the race.

That was very weird, Yuuichi thought for, according to the speedometer, he hadn't slowed down which meant that it was Iwase who was increasing the speed of his car as they entered what was one of the last gentle turns before that sudden, sharp left-hander Yuuichi had memorised during his practice runs.

Applying a bit more pressure onto the accelerator pedal of his car, Yuuichi allowed himself a tiny smile while he remembered something Bunta had commented during their training sessions at Mt Akina regarding the fact that, for some reason, Yuuichi seemed to have the ability to store all sorts of data in his brain.

'I wish I could do that,' Bunta had complained.

'I don't do anything special,' Yuuichi replied, 'if I see something, it kind of sticks in here,' he added pointing at his own head.

Bunta had gone on commenting the fact that now he understood how in the heck Yuuichi always managed to get very high marks without so much as opening a book to study and, for once in his life, he felt jealous of his friend and wished he had that kind of brainpower too.

Yuuichi had tried to make Bunta feel better by saying that he was also very jealous of his innate ability to drive anything which had four tyres and an engine, regretting it almost instantly when Bunta, going back to his usual smug self had said that indeed, he was a god when it came to driving.

'That crazy son of a…' he started muttering to himself, stopping when he saw that the R-100 headlights were no longer reflected onto his Mazda's rear view mirror, making him damn himself for getting distracted right in the middle of a race.

Looking ahead, he also saw that they were approaching the infamously tight left-hander and, just as he started shifting the gears in preparation to enter the corner, he saw the black Mazda pushing him towards the guardrail.

'What the…' Yuuichi breathed for, according to his calculations, the road was simply not wide enough for the two of them to pass at the same time. Nevertheless, Iwase seemed to be oblivious to this fact and kept going ahead, probably hoping that Yuuichi would chicken and would let him pass.

Going against what common sense dictated, Yuuichi decided to stick to his position and, instead of slowing down for the corner, he pressed the accelerator and prayed for all that was holy that he could clear the turn without ending up crashing down the cliff.

'Come on baby,' he muttered to the steering wheel while fighting with every ounce of his determination the urge to move his right foot onto the brake pedal. Instead, he kept it onto the accelerator while he used the gears and the steering wheel in order to ensure he stayed on the line he had intended in the first place.

Once more, that wasn't enough.

'NO!' Yuuichi cried seeing that, somehow and despite all his efforts, Iwase's black Mazda was taking an impossible inside line, clearing the corner half a car before he did, moving in front of him as they exited the left-hander and using the short straight which followed to put an alarmingly big gap between the two cars.

This couldn't be happening, Yuuichi thought in desperation. Yet again, he was going to lose a race.

'Not yet,' Yuuichi protested, giving himself a mental kick, 'the race isn't over yet,' he added looking at the steering wheel as though as he was trying to convince his Capella not to give up either then, steeling his grasp on it, he took a very deep breath and increased the pressure onto the accelerator pedal.

After that left-hander, the road became wider but steeper which was good news for Yuuichi who, being careful not to lose sight of the black R-100, he started compiling a list of possible places where he could try and overtake Iwase.

He then followed his opponent into a relatively easy right-turn from which he spotted something which managed to make his smile return to his face. Of course, it was a bit of a gamble waiting for so long to attack but, if he was successful, Iwase wouldn't really have the space he needed in order to pass him again.

With that thought fuelling his determination, Yuuichi forced himself to be patient and, just then, he remembered what Bunta had told him right before the race: pretend you're racing me.

'Alright,' Yuuichi said, 'let's do this.'

Just as he'd done with Bunta countless times in the past few months, he started copying every single thing the R-100 did and soon, Yuuichi found that mimicking Iwase's rather conventional driving style was a lot easier than doing the same with Bunta's crazy, often kamikaze-like one and, soon enough, both Mazda reached the sector of the road Yuuichi had picked for his one and only attack:

A short but quite wide bridge.

That particular bit of the mountain pass looked like it had been built recently for the tarmac was in a lot better conditions than the rest of the road and the white paint of the railing shone as it reflected both the moonlight and the light which came from the two cars' headlights.

Right before they entered the bridge, Yuuichi slowed down for just a fraction of a second while he turned the steering wheel making his Capella veer towards the right side of the road then, without giving Iwase the chance to recover from the shock of this sudden manoeuvre, Yuuichi just pressed the accelerator, pushing the car through the only available space.

It was now his turn to pray so that his rival would have the good sense to slow down and give up but, knowing very well that his prayer would probably go unheard, Yuuichi decided to increase the speed of his car a notch, just in case.

It worked.

By some sort of miracle, Iwase did what Yuuichi had only allowed himself to hope and, braking visibly, allowed for the Capella to get ahead making its driver feel very uneasy about the whole thing.

It had been too easy…

Not wanting to make the same mistake again, Yuuichi increased his concentration level, making sure he had every single one of his brain cells focused on the road ahead of him, sparing just a few so that he could keep an eye on the R-100 he had, once more, behind his own Mazda.

After the bridge, there weren't many more corners left before the finish line but Yuuichi remembered accurately that the road was now wide enough for Iwase to try one last, desperate move on him. Only that he wasn't going to give his opponent the chance to do that.

He would win this race or die trying!

The Cappella and the R-100 were about to enter the very last corner of the course when, taking a very quick look at the rear view mirror of his car, Yuuichi saw that another set of headlights had now joined the R-100 ones.

'What the…' he muttered and the instant-long distraction almost caused him to miss the fact that Iwase was now trying to repeat the same move he'd pulled on him at that left-hander and which had cost Yuuichi the lead of race.

Choosing to forget about that mysterious third car, Yuuichi got his car across the road in what was a most Bunta-like drift, feeling eternally grateful to his best friend for teaching him how to do this particular manoeuvre properly.

This, not only caused him to clear the corner in a rather exciting way but, what was a lot more important, it prevented Iwase from overtaking him since Yuuichi had all but occupied the entire width of the road, leaving virtually no space for the R-100 to go by.

Yuuichi made his car virtually fly towards the finish line, crossing it with the other Mazda stuck to the Capella's rear bumper. It didn't matter, an ecstatic Yuuichi thought, somehow he'd done it: he'd won his first race!

'YES!' he shouted happily slapping the steering wheel of his car so violently that it made the car's tail wiggle, forcing the poor Iwase to brake in order to avoid an otherwise certain collision though Yuuichi was too euphoric to care about something as trivial as that…

Only when he pulled his car over to the side of the now flat road, he realised something which was anything but trivial: Fuka wasn't there.

That very gloomy thought managed to wipe Yuuichi's smile off his face. How could fate be so cruel? He asked himself miserably. Yuuichi and his girlfriend saw each other almost every evening and, it had to be in the one night they had decided to stay apart that he had to win his first race ever.

'Hey, what's up?' someone asked him through the glass of the window.

Forcing himself to look up, Yuuichi saw Bunta's worried face looking at him from outside the car, making him wonder how in the heck he had got there quite so fast. Geez, he knew Bunta was a fast driver, probably the fastest ever but, come on…

'Yuuichi!' Bunta now shouted, opening the Capella's door, 'are you hurt?'

'Eh?'

'I said if you're hurt,' Bunta repeated, sounding rather alarmed.

'What?' Yuuichi managed to ask.

'Is he okay?' someone else asked and, glancing over Bunta's shoulder, Yuuichi saw Iwase, looking almost as worried as Bunta did. That made Yuuichi snap out of his reverie and, forcing himself to smile, he nodded a couple of times before saying:

'I'm okay, don't worry.'

'What's with the long face then?' Bunta asked him.

'Ah,' Yuuichi gasped, 'it's nothing it's just that…' he interrupted himself realising that he couldn't possibly admit what had made him feel so sad for, if he did, he would never hear the end of it. He had barely finished the thought when, to his utmost horror, Bunta burst out laughing.

'I get it!' Yuuichi heard his best friend exclaim, 'I know why he's so miserable:' he then added triumphantly while he spoke to a very confused looking Iwase, 'his girlfriend isn't here.

If there was a time when Yuuichi wanted to either die or disappear in some weird, sci-fi like manner that was it…

'Bunta!' Yuuichi complained while pushing his best friend out of the way so that he could, at long last, climb out of his car, 'be quiet, will you?'

'Hey, don't worry,' a still laughing Bunta said, 'I've seen every bit of the race and I'll describe it to Fuka-chan as accurately as I can.'

'How have you…' Yuuichi started then, remembering the extra set of headlights he'd seen briefly during the race, he said, 'it was you, wasn't it?'

'Yep,' Bunta replied then, looking at Iwase, he added, 'I hope you don't mind that I followed you two.'

'Of course not,' Iwase said putting his hands up, 'I just want to say that your friend here is one of the smartest drivers I've had the pleasure to race with. Mind you, I'm going to want a re-match now…'

Yuuichi looked at him startled at first then, seeing the kind smile on Iwase's face made him smile back while he nodded his agreement.

'Great,' Bunta said grinning in an almost devilishly way, 'this way you can get Fuka-chan to watch the race.'

'Oh shut up,' Yuuichi protested but, considering everything, he realised that he had a very good reason to be happy and, even if Fuka wasn't there to celebrate his maiden victory with him, he still had his friends there and, what was even better, he and Fuka could go out on their own to commemorate the event in a more private way…

It was only after midnight when the whole gang began to leave their usual meeting place at Mt Akina's summit when Masashi approached both Bunta and Yuuichi.

'Bunta,' he said, 'have you heard about Kogashiwa?'

'What about him?' Bunta asked.

'He hasn't broken his leg again, has he?' Yuuichi joked but, seeing the Akina Firebolt's serious expression made him sober up and say, 'he hasn't, has he?'

'No,' Masashi replied.

'Then, what's wrong?' Bunta asked and only Yuuichi read the very faint trace of anxiety which was concealed by the usual careless tone his friend always used.

'You know what he's been doing ever since he got out of the hospital and got his car fixed, haven't you?' Masashi said.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied for he was very well informed about the fact that Ken Kogashiwa seemed to be challenging anyone who had a car and was foolish enough to race him beating quite a few of them in the process, 'so what?'

'Guess who's his next 'victim',' Masashi prompted.

'No idea,' Bunta said.

'Do you remember that friend of yours from Tokyo?' Masashi asked him.

'Takao-san?' Yuuichi replied instead, 'hadn't he retired after…well…after Yoshiki-san died?'

'He did,' Bunta confirmed, 'I'm pretty sure of it,' he added.

'I never said Kogashiwa was going to race him,' Masashi pointed out, looking like he was getting slightly annoyed at the constant interruptions.

'Then, what's up?' Bunta asked him.

'Kogashiwa is going to race the guy who was racing Yoshiki-san the night he killed himself,' Masashi finally supplied.

'He's WHAT?' Bunta exclaimed, covering Yuuichi's own incredulous remark, 'Yoshiki-san died at the Wangan and…'

'I know that,' Masashi interrupted him, 'according to rumours I've heard, they'll be racing there in a few hours time.'

'No way,' Yuuichi countered, 'not even Kogashiwa is that stupid,' he added trying to use a dismissing tone of voice then, noticing Bunta's unusually serious expression, he said, 'come on Bunta, you can't possibly think…where are you going?'

'Bunta…' Masashi started, seeing that the younger guy was already walking towards his Toyota, 'wait!' he exclaimed and, right then, both he and Yuuichi ran towards Bunta with the latter grabbing his arm in order to keep him from going anywhere.

'Let me go,' Bunta protested.

'No,' Yuuichi said firmly, 'what are you going to do?'

'I'm going to speak to him,' Bunta replied snatching his arm free of Yuuichi's grasp and, before neither of the other two racers could stop him, he climbed into the Toyota, starting its engine and driving off even faster than he usually did.

_To be continued…_


	31. Chapter Thirty

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty_

They only caught a glimpse of the 2000GT's taillights before they disappeared around the right-hander which was the first corner of Mt Akina's downhill. That made both Masashi and Yuuichi exchange a worried glance and then, as though as they had reached an unspoken agreement, both guys started moving towards their rides.

'No,' Masashi told the younger guy seeing him walk towards his Mazda Capella. Then, noticing the confused look that had appeared on Yuuichi's face, he explained, 'we need to hurry up if we want to catch up with him.'

That made Yuuichi stop right where he was and, without exchanging another word, he went to climb into the passenger seat of the Fairlady Z while Masashi got behind its steering wheel, starting its engine the second they were both inside the car. Within a few instants, they started chasing after Bunta while allowing themselves to hope that they were still on time to stop Bunta before he got to the Kan'Etsu Expressway.

They weren't.

'Geez,' Masashi complained as they approached the base for they still had to spot Bunta's Toyota, 'we only gave him a few seconds of advantage.'

'He's Bunta,' Yuuichi pointed out with a half a smirk.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Masashi found that he couldn't repress a grin. Honestly, if Bunta got much faster than he already was, he could very well end up taking off into the sky…

'What happens if we can't catch him?' Yuuichi's question interrupted Masashi's train of thought.

'I'm not too sure,' he replied, 'I do know of a place where the people who race at the Wangan meet up before the battles, we'll just go there and hope Bunta's is in there too.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi said then, after a few more instants of silence, he added, 'Masashi-san, is it really that scary racing at the Wangan?'

Masashi took a deep breath in order to buy himself some time before replying for, in reality, not having even been to the Wangan before; he didn't really know how to answer to that question.

'I don't know,' he finally admitted, 'I've never tried myself but, from what I've heard, the battles there are extremely dangerous and nerve-wrecking.'

'More so than the races up there?' Yuuichi asked, pointing at the mountain they were quickly leaving behind now that they were about to enter the Kan'Etsu Expressway to go to Tokyo.

'I think it's a different concept,' Masashi explained, 'in touge racing, we rarely find traffic and, if we do, it's usually just a car or two and we can easily avoid them. The Wangan it's a section of a motorway, which means that it's fairly busy at almost all times. Then there's the speed: some racers have gone beyond the two hundred and fifty kilometres an hour mark, a few even beyond that so, try to imagine going at that speed while having to dodge all sorts of other vehicles.'

'Oh wow,' was all that Yuuichi managed to say, finally understanding the reason why they all seemed to be rather respectful, if not plain afraid, when it came to that kind of racing, 'now I get it.'

'Yep,' Masashi just said then, as though as if it were an afterthought, he added, 'I just hope Bunta doesn't do anything stupid.'

'He won't,' Yuuichi assured him.

'I wish I were as certain of this as you are,' Masashi countered.

'He can't race at the Wangan,' Yuuichi insisted, 'he promised he wouldn't to his uncle,' he then added.

'He did?' Masashi asked him.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, 'what's beyond me though is why he's bothering so much with that Kogashiwa guy. I mean, why does he care so much about what Kogashiwa does?'

'I don't know,' Masashi replied, 'but I'm sure Bunta's got a very powerful reason.'

After this, the two guys just drove in silence until, about an hour later, they got to the connection between routes number five and nine of the Greater Tokyo's Expressway Network; the route number nine was an urban motorway which crossed the entire city and led straight into the Higashi Kanto Expressway.

That particular motorway was well known among the street racing world for its mainly straight several kilometres long Bayshore C1 sector, called The Wangan by the racers which challenged each other in impossibly dangerous battles and life-threatening time attacks.

'I can't believe they race in here,' Yuuichi commented while Masashi was busy negotiating his way around the traffic, the heaviness of which was astonishing, even more so considering it was well past midnight.

'Ah! Here he is!' Masashi exclaimed without acknowledging what Yuuichi had just said. The teenager stared ahead at the point the Akina Firebolts' leader was indicating and he saw Bunta's car just a few metres ahead of the Fairlady Z. Yuuichi also saw that Masashi was flashing his car's headlights, hoping that Bunta would notice them.

He, of course, didn't and that left Masashi with no other option but to keep driving as fast as he could so that he wouldn't lose sight of the Toyota. Finally, after driving behind Bunta for a few minutes and having left behind the junction with the C2 route, they entered a very wide left-hand turn which led to yet another long straight.

'Where is he going?' Yuuichi asked seeing that the 2000GT was beginning to cut towards the left-most lane.

'There,' Masashi replied pointing at a sign which indicated the construction site of a what was going to be a new petrol station, 'it's a good thing I pay attention to what other street racers tell me because that's exactly the meeting place I knew of.'

Yuuichi only managed to smile at that remark for, right at that instant, Masashi pressed the accelerator of his Fairlady Z, making it go even faster than it was already going and, in the end, poor Yuuichi was almost grateful when they finally reached the entrance of the construction site, noticing that someone had removed the barrier which was supposed to keep outsiders from entering it.

Inside, the found about a dozen other cars parked and a few people busy either talking and inspecting each other's rides or with their attention focused on the two lined up cars which were about to start the race. Only then, both Yuuichi and Masashi saw that Bunta had just stopped his car in front of said two cars and was already climbing out of it.

'Shit…' Masashi muttered and, not even bothering to turn his Fairlady Z's engine off, he too jumped out of his car with Yuuichi doing the same.

'What in the heck are you doing here?' they heard Kogashiwa ask as he poked his head out of his newly repaired GT-R's driver's side window.

'You shouldn't race in here,' Bunta replied, crossing his arms onto his chest while returning the glare Kogashiwa was giving him.

'You should mind your own business,' Kogashiwa replied harshly and that made laugh a few of the spectators, who, by then, were all watching the entire exchange with morbid curiosity.

'Bunta's right,' Masashi intervened. Bunta turned round sharply, looking genuinely surprised to see him and Yuuichi there, making it very obvious that he hadn't even realised that he had been followed all the way from Shibukawa.

'Let's just go home, okay?' Yuuichi proposed, trying his best to be as appeasing as always.

'Nobody goes anywhere,' someone else said, a guy dressed entirely with dark leather and with hair bleached so light that it was ghostly white that had just climbed out of the other car which, coincidentally, was a black version of Bunta's own 2000GT, 'I've been looking forward to this race…'

Bunta glared at the newcomer and Masashi, fearing a very nasty confrontation, interposed himself between his friend and the white-haired guy and said:

'I'm sorry about the trouble but our friend here has made a mistake: you see, he's not even used to this kind of races and…'

'Shut the fuck up!' a positively fuming Kogashiwa exclaimed while stepping out of his car too, 'you three need to get the hell out of here!'

What happened next went on so fast that no one really had the chance to prevent it from happening, least of all the poor Kogashiwa who found himself knocked out by an extremely hard punch, courtesy of Bunta, which connected straight onto the side of Kogashiwa's face, making him drop unconscious onto the ground, next to his car.

'What have…' Yuuichi stammered.

'See?' an unfazed Bunta told the white-haired guy, 'he can't race now so, find yourself someone else.'

Masashi, who was too astounded to be able to do anything else, limited himself to kneel next to Kogashiwa, using his own light parka as a cushion to put it underneath the poor guy's head. He then noticed that his cheek was beginning to get rather swollen. Kogashiwa was lucky to be unconscious, Masashi decided for, that would hurt like hell once he would wake up.

'I've got an idea,' they all heard the white-haired guy say while he smirked at Bunta in a very disturbing way, 'how about if YOU race against me?'

Both Yuuichi and Masashi were about to vehemently refuse on behalf of their friend when, to their utmost astonishment, they saw Bunta nodding.

'Alright,' he said and, before his two friends could open their mouth to protest, he added, 'but only if you allow my friends to take that guy to a hospital.'

The white-haired guy glanced from the still unconscious Kogashiwa to Masashi and Yuuichi and back to Bunta and, shrugging his broad shoulders, he said:

'Fair enough; you do know the rules of the Wangan, right?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'as you can see from my car's number plate, I'm from Tokyo too.'

'Good,' the white-haired guy said, 'my name's Nakashima Saburo, what's yours?'

'Fujiwara Bunta.'

'Alright,' Nakashima said, 'you've got five minutes: the public's getting impatient,' he then added pointing at the group of people who were there, indeed looking like they couldn't wait for the race to start. Because of this, Bunta rushed towards where Masashi and Yuuichi were and, lowering his voice so that only they could hear him, he said:

'Yuuichi, do you think you can drive Kogashiwa's car back to Shibukawa?'

'Er…' Yuuichi hesitated, 'yeah, I guess so.'

'Bunta…' Masashi started.

'You,' Bunta interrupted him, 'can you take Kogashiwa with you in your car?'

'Bunta…' Masashi tried again.

'Hey, I've got a plan, okay?' Bunta whispered, 'I just need to know that you two can get away from here as fast as you can.'

'But…' Yuuichi started.

'Just get out of here, okay?' Bunta insisted, 'I need you to trust me, alright?'

Instead of replying, Masashi started searching for the GT-R's keys, finding them in the front pocket of Kogashiwa's jeans then, handing them to Yuuichi, he looked at Bunta and, still keeping a very low tone of voice, he said:

'Let's meet up at the base of Mt Akina, okay?'

'Alright,' Bunta replied and, with that, he exchanged a quick but reassuring glance with Yuuichi before he walked back to Nakashima who was now busy talking to a couple of rather nasty looking guys, one of them had violently purple hair which formed some sort of broom on his head. The other one was big enough to be a sumo wrestler.

'Are you ready?' Nakashima asked Bunta.

'Yeah,' Bunta said and, for an instant, he felt very proud of himself for sounding as determined as he did, 'that's a nice ride you've got there,' he added pointing at the shiny black 2000GT which, he only noticed now, had red and orange flames painted onto both sides of its bodywork.

'Thanks,' Nakashima said, 'it's a 1968 MF12Ls, one of the nine which were ever made.'

'I see,' Bunta commented, trying his best to both sound and look impressed, 'mine's just a regular MF10s so, take it easy, alright?'

Nakashima let out a very amused chuckle then, staring at Bunta in a most patronising manner, he said:

'Don't worry, I won't push it too much, after all, we don't want you to get hurt, do we?'

Offering him what was the fakest smile in the history of smiles, Bunta nodded a couple of times before walking back to his car, climbing into it and moving it out of the way so that Yuuichi and Masashi could, at long last, leave the place. While he rolled his white 2000GT next to the black one, he observed as Yuuichi helped Masashi put Kogashiwa in the passenger seat of the Fairlady Z.

He only re-started his Toyota's engine the instant he saw both the Fairlady Z and the GT-R driven by Yuuichi leave the construction site and, only then, he started preparing himself mentally for what he knew very well was a very dangerous plan.

A moment later, a very pretty girl stood in front of the two Toyotas and, lifting both of her arms up, she started the countdown. At the go, both Bunta and Nakashima took off, incorporating themselves to the traffic so that they could head north towards the section of the motorway which would allow them to get in the opposite way.

Bunta knew that the race would only start the minute they both started driving south but, in any case, he didn't want to be left behind and, for this reason, he started pushing his car as much as the traffic allowed him to.

'Geez,' he breathed as he finally managed to overtake a very long truck which almost prevented him from getting into the narrow lane which led to the other half of the Wangan. From there, Bunta saw as Nakashima's car started picking up speed and, soon enough, Bunta found himself travelling at over one hundred and seventy kilometres an hour.

And the race had just started.

It only took a few moments, during which he dodged quite a few cars, fighting to keep going as fast as he could, for Bunta to realise just how stupid and dangerous this kind of races really were. One not only had to deal with the traffic but also, it was very difficult keeping the focus onto the road ahead with so many distracting things: the signs, the billboards, the tunnels…

At such high speed, even the streetlamps flashed inside the car in a very disturbing way and Bunta felt eternally grateful when, a few moments after the start of the race, he spotted the exit which connected to the route number nine.

He then tried to see where the black 2000GT was and, seeing that it was still way ahead of him, Bunta did what he had had planned all along: he drove towards the left-most lane of the motorway allowing himself just a tiny moment to hate himself for what he was about to do.

Yes: for the first time in his whole life, Bunta Fujiwara was running away.

'Shit Eikichi,' he muttered to himself as he drove his car into the lane which led to the route number nine. If it hadn't been for the promise he'd made to the older man, he would have probably loved fighting with Nakashima and, maybe, just maybe, he could have put yet another win under his belt.

Yet again, was another victory worth his word as a man? Probably not, Bunta decided remembering something that his father had once told him about the fact that it was better to tarnish one's reputation rather than losing one's honour by breaking a solemnly made promise.

Not that this helped him feel any better about what he'd just done but, if asked to choose, he preferred to be considered a coward by Nakashima more than losing his uncle's trust.

Feeling rather gloomy nevertheless, Bunta drove all the way to Shibukawa, bypassing the town and driving straight to the base of the famous Mt Akina's pass where, as he hoped, he found both Masashi and Yuuichi standing next to their cars and with a still furious looking Kogashiwa sitting on top of his GT-R's bonnet.

'Oh, thank god for that,' a very relieved sounding Yuuichi said the minute Bunta stepped out of his car.

Masashi was about to say something when they all saw Kogashiwa literally launching himself towards Bunta while readying his fist to hit him with it. Only Bunta's fast reflexes saved him from getting hit but, unfortunately for poor Kogashiwa, this meant that his hand connected with the corner of the 2000GT's driver's side door which was still open.

'FUCK YOU!' Kogashiwa shouted while holding his sore right hand with his left one.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'stop hurting yourself…'

Both Yuuichi and Masashi had to bite their lower lip in order to stop themselves from laughing all the while Kogashiwa just stared at Bunta in disbelieve. That state only lasted a few instants for soon enough they all saw his brow creasing in an angry frown.

'What in the heck did you do?' he hissed, 'you raced him instead of me, didn't you?'

'Nope,' Bunta replied after looking at him for a short while, 'at least not technically speaking,' he added and, before Kogashiwa could formulate yet another question, he said, 'in any case, that's not important right now…'

'The heck it's not,' Kogashiwa countered, 'it' almost pathetic the way you're always trying to get the spotlight on yourself,' he added nastily.

'If that's what you want to think, so be it,' Bunta commented, 'the way I see it though, I probably saved your neck tonight so, I think you should be grateful.'

'You…what?' Kogashiwa stammered, going back to looking incredulous and, once more, both Yuuichi and Masashi had to fight with themselves not to burst out laughing.

'That would have messed up with my plans,' Bunta carried on saying, plainly ignoring what Kogashiwa had just said, 'and I hate it when people mess up with my plans.'

'What in the fuck are you talking about?' an angry but still confused Kogashiwa asked him.

'You and I,' Bunta replied calmly, 'have something we need to settle, don't we?'

Kogashiwa stared at him for a short while, buying himself sometime to come up with a good answer then, dropping his hurt right hand, he put the fingertips of his left one onto his bruised cheek and, at long last, he nodded and said:

'You wanna do it now?'

'Nope,' Bunta said, 'I think I've had enough emotions for one night. Let's do it this coming Saturday night. Regarding the location of the race…'

'We're racing here in Akina, aren't we?' Kogashiwa asked him.

'I think we should let fate decide that,' Bunta replied stuffing his right hand into the front pocket of his trousers and pulling out a ten yen coin from it, 'if we get the number,' he added, 'we race in Akina, if we get the temple, we'll race in Irohazaka, alright?'

'But we've already raced there,' Kogashiwa pointed out.

'We never finished that race, did we?' Bunta countered then, not bothering with waiting for an answer, he lifted the hand in which he held the coin and said, 'shall I?'

Kogashiwa seemed to think about it for a few moments before, once again, nodding his agreement. Seeing that, Bunta tossed the coin, letting it drop onto the ground then, Masashi, Yuuichi, Bunta and Kogashiwa walked to where the coin had fallen and there, all four of them crouched to take a look at it.

'Alright,' Kogashiwa said getting back up, 'I'll see you in a week's time.'

'Fine,' Bunta replied.

He and his two friends watched Kogashiwa make his way back to his Skyline climbing into it and driving off the second he started its engine. He then turned to Yuuichi and said:

'How was it?'

'How was what?' Yuuichi asked back.

'Driving Kogashiwa's car,' Bunta replied.

'Er…' Yuuichi hesitated, 'I don't know…normal, I guess.'

'Didn't you notice anything special about the car?' Bunta asked him.

'Er…' he hesitated again, 'now that you mention it, the engine sounded pretty finely tuned and the tyres are probably brand new and of very good quality for their grip was outstanding. The suspensions were also quite decently set and overall the car responded very nicely, why?'

'That's good to know,' Bunta replied, 'I think I'll have to change the suspension settings to get them ready for Irohazaka.'

Both Masashi and Yuuichi exchanged a very quick look for the two of them had noticed some sort of shadow which seemed to cloud Bunta's usually cheerful and confident attitude. Whatever had gone on at the Wangan had managed to unsettle Bunta in a way that made them feel very worried.

_To be continued…_


	32. Chapter Thirty One

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty One_

The following Wednesday morning and even though the beginning of spring was nearer, it was still rather cold in the town of Shibukawa when Eikichi, taking the chance that he wasn't busy at the shop and that Bunta was at school, climbed into his Isuzu and, doing something he rarely did, he drove it to the middle of town.

He stopped at a very busy crossroad and then, turning to the left, he rolled his car into the repairs shop Shinichiro Nitta owned, the same one where Bunta still worked part-time.

'Fujiwara-san,' a very surprised Nitta said, rushing towards the old Bellett while trying to get his hands clean with a more or less white piece of cloth, 'what's wrong?' he then added, creasing his brow with concern.

'Nothing,' Eikichi replied not even bothering to hide a most amused smirk, 'can't I just pay you a social visit?'

'Er…' Nitta hesitated, obviously thinking to himself that whatever Eikichi had in mind, was very far from being a mere social call. In any case, and for the sake of not being difficult, he finally said, 'how can I help you?'

'I wonder if I could have a word with you,' Eikichi said, still keeping an all-too casual tone of voice.

'S-sure,' Nitta hesitated then, talking to a couple of his employees, he said, 'I'll be in my office.'

Without waiting for their answer, Nitta made his way to the small building where he had the room he called his office and Eikichi followed him feeling grateful that that Masashi kid wasn't around for he really wanted to keep this visit of his a secret.

'Please,' Nitta said indicating one of the chairs in front of his desk, 'can I offer you something to drink?' he asked once Eikichi had sat down.

'No, thanks,' the older man replied. Then, Nitta saw as Eikichi finally dropped the act and adopted a most serious expression, 'to be honest, I don't even know why I'm here. I guess I don't know what else to do.'

'What's wrong?' Nitta asked, masking his curiosity with a carefully controlled voice.

'Something's wrong with Bunta,' Eikichi replied, 'he's been acting weird since Sunday morning.'

'Weird?' Nitta asked, 'what do you mean with that?'

'I don't know,' Eikichi admitted, albeit with a hint of impatience, 'I just think that something's bothering him and I can't get him to tell me what.'

'You've tried speaking to him?' the repair shop's owner said sounding almost incredulous, as though as regarded the thought of both Fujiwaras having a serious conversation as something laughable. He would have actually smirked had he not seen Eikichi nodding gravely, 'ah…I see.'

'The thing is,' Eikichi said, 'that kid's as stubborn as his father and it's so incredibly hard to make him speak his mind…'

'Look who's talking.'

The words came out of his throat without his permission and, realising only a split-second too late that he'd uttered them, Nitta covered his mouth with his right hand while bracing himself for the worst.

'You're right,' Eikichi said instead, possibly shocking poor Nitta even more than if he had just stormed out of the room, 'in any case, I would just like to know if he's spoken to you or if you've heard anything.'

'I haven't,' Nitta interrupted him, 'all Bunta talks about when he's here is how to tune his car better. He and Masashi-kun keep talking about mechanics all freaking day. What a waste of youth!' he added with a soft chuckle, 'when I was their age, all I could think about was girls…speaking of which, haven't you thought it may be a girl who's making him act this way?'

'No,' Eikichi replied firmly, 'I remember when he was depressed because of his girlfriend and he wasn't behaving like he's now. I think something has upset him in a much deeper way.'

'Well,' Nitta tried again, 'if there's anything you think I can do to help, I'm here.'

'Thanks,' Eikichi said getting back up from his chair, 'I appreciate it.'

'Don't mention it,' Nitta replied, using the top of his desk to push himself up from his own chair, 'in the mean time, I'll keep an eye on him. He's supposed to come here after school so I'll try to see if I can find anything out, alright?'

'Sure,' Eikichi replied then, the two men walked back out of the office and, without exchanging another word, Nitta observed as the older man just made his way to his car, climbed into it and in his unique, crazy style, he drove off. The repair shop's owner shook his head briefly before he went back to his chores.

Whatever was troubling Bunta, was bad enough to get Eikichi Fujiwara concerned, Nitta thought and that, in his opinion, was a good enough reason for him to get very worried too.

Meanwhile, not far away from there, Yuuichi and Bunta were in their classroom enjoying the meals they had just bought from the mini-market which was right next to their school when the former noticed that his best friend was even quieter than usual.

'What's up?' he asked Bunta.

'Nothing,' Bunta replied with a half-full mouth.

'Are you worried about this Saturday's race?' Yuuichi asked him. Bunta shook his head no and he added, 'that's right, you know that you'll beat the pants off Kogashiwa as usual.'

Bunta just nodded.

'You know,' Yuuichi started, 'I've been thinking of challenging someone that same night too. I'd be cool racing at Irohazaka, maybe I could take the uphill, what do you think?'

'Yeah, sure,' Bunta said, not sounding sure at all.

That did it for Yuuichi who, setting aside his unfinished tray of pre-cooked food, he steeled himself and a most resolute expression appeared on his face, the one he always used when acting as class representative or, like in this case, he wanted to get to the bottom of something.

'Right,' he said, 'what in the heck is wrong with you?'

'What?' Bunta asked him.

'You aren't fooling me,' Yuuichi insisted, 'I know you've been acting all weird since that night at the Wangan.'

'Yuuichi don't,' Bunta warned him.

'Don't what?' Yuuichi asked, refusing to let his friend get away this time, 'look I…'

'I said don't,' Bunta interrupted him again, this time raising his tone of voice a notch. Then, pushing his desk with one hand, he dropped his food into a nearby bin and walked away from a very startled looking Yuuichi.

'Okay,' he muttered, ignoring the curious looks he was getting from quite a few of his and Bunta's classmates. If he had needed proof that something was up with his friend, he couldn't have got it any more tangible.

When a few minutes later Bunta came back into the classroom, Yuuichi didn't even try talking to him for he knew very well how useless that would be. Instead, he waited patiently until the end of the lessons, feeling grateful they just had a couple more weeks to graduation.

Sure, he'd miss school and all the privileges he had being class representative but, again, he was very much looking forward to start working full time with his father so that he could make all the money he needed for his car and to start saving up for the future…

'Where are you going?' Bunta asked him all of a sudden, making him realise that he had just followed him to the boy's bathroom door.

'I need to pee too,' Yuuichi said.

'Alright,' Bunta commented shrugging his shoulders. Then the two friends walked into the bathroom and, while Yuuichi busied himself washing his hands. Bunta locked himself into one of the small cubicles.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said, 'is Masashi working this afternoon?'

'I think so,' Bunta replied from inside the cubicle.

'Great,' Yuuichi said, 'I need to speak to him about a part I need for my Mazda.'

This time he didn't get an answer from Bunta but it didn't matter. He had just found himself a perfect excuse to go with Bunta to the repairs shop where he worked so that he could, indeed, speak to Masashi about Bunta's odd behaviour and, fifteen minutes later, they walked into the garage where they found the Akina Firebolts' leader cleaning one of his spanners.

'Hey,' the slightly older guy said putting the tool back into its box, 'we need to talk.'

'What a coincidence…' Yuuichi started.

'Not you idiot,' Masashi interrupted him then, pointing at Bunta with the cloth he'd been using to clean the spanner, he hissed, 'let's go to the back.'

The two schoolmates followed him out of the garage and around it, to reach the small yard where they kept all sorts of things that, obviously enough, no one would need nor want ever again. Only then, turning round to face them, Masashi allowed himself to look as worried as he was.

'Bunta,' he said, 'what exactly did you do to get away from the Wangan?'

Yuuichi had to train his features not to widen his eyes in expectation while Bunta limited himself to squint his, even more so than they usually were.

'Why are you asking?'

'No reason,' Masashi replied sardonically, 'just the fact that some very nasty rumours about you have began to get spread around and they have finally reached us.'

'What rumours?' Yuuichi couldn't help but to ask.

'Apparently,' Masashi started, 'some people are saying that…'

'It's true,' Bunta interrupted him crossing his arms onto his chest in an almost defensive pose.

'What is?' a very confused Yuuichi asked staring at both Masashi and Bunta alternatively as if he were watching a tennis match.

'It can't be,' Masashi breathed instead, 'Bunta, they say you ran away from the race.'

'WHAT?' Yuuichi exclaimed, earning himself a twin glare which made him decide to remain quiet for the rest of the conversation. Instead, he listened to Bunta while he explained to Masashi about what had happened during the morning between Saturday and Sunday.

'Look,' Bunta finished, 'I didn't know what else to do, okay?'

Masashi stared at him for a few instants, raking his brain in a desperate search to find the words he needed to express his, disappointment? Shock? Concern? All of the above? He finally settled for saying what he'd wanted to say from the very beginning:

'The thing is, that white haired guy from Tokyo has found out about your race with Kogashiwa and, well, rumour has it that he's going to be waiting for you at Irohazaka this Saturday night.'

Yuuichi let out an involuntary but filled with worry gasp.

'Is that so?' Bunta asked so coolly that both Masashi and Yuuichi looked at him with a large dose of disbelief on their expressions.

'Aren't you worried?' Masashi asked him.

'Why should I be?' Bunta countered, 'is not like there is anything I can do about it.'

'Of course there is!' Masashi exclaimed, 'to start with, you need to cancel your race with Kogashiwa and…'

'No,' Bunta cut him off, shaking his head a couple of times, 'I'm not going to run away again. Not now, not ever. I brought upon myself what's happening now and I'm going to have to deal with the consequences of my actions.'

'Bunta…'

'Yuuichi,' he interrupted his friend, 'I knew something like this would happen. I mean, if you're into street racing, finding any of your fellow racers isn't that difficult. Even if I didn't show up at Irohazaka, just how long do you think Nakashima would take to find me here?'

'But…'

'I just want you guys to stay out of this,' Bunta said.

'What do you mean?' Masashi asked, frowning in a way which indicated very clearly that he didn't like one bit of what he was hearing.

'This Saturday night,' he replied, 'I don't want any of the Firebolts anywhere near Irohazaka,' he added and, before Masashi had the time to voice his refusal to Bunta's request, the younger guy looked at Yuuichi and said, 'nor you.'

'NO WAY!' Yuuichi exclaimed, 'I AM NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE!'

'Neither will we,' Masashi said, using a much lower tone of voice but sounding as final as Yuuichi did.

'Guys…'

'Bunta,' Masashi interrupted him, 'you're an Akina racer and, if you're in trouble, so are we. Haven't you ever heard of the Firebolts' motto?' he then asked him.

'No, I haven't,' Bunta replied.

'Well,' Masashi said, 'we stay united, no matter what.'

'I'm not a member of the Akina Firebolts,' Bunta pointed out.

'Not because we don't want you in the team,' Masashi countered, 'in any case and last time I checked, Irohazaka was a public road and, I believe we can go there whenever we want to.'

'Masashi…'

'Bunta,' the slightly older guy said, 'we'll be there to help you out and I don't give a damn about what you think. If they even try to get anywhere near you, they'll have to go through all of us first.'

'That's right,' Yuuichi said jerking his head in a very sharp nod, 'and there's nothing you can do about it.'

'I hate you,' Bunta spat but, the way he lowered his eyes to look at the ground and, the way he brought his hand up to scratch his right cheek showed to both Yuuichi and Masashi that, even if he would die rather than admitting it, he felt rather grateful to have his friends unconditional support.

'Yeah, we hate you too,' Masashi said then, passing an arm around Bunta's shoulders, he said, 'let's go back now or that slave-driver of our boss will send a search party.'

The three guys walked around the corner together, to caught up in their own, this time more trivial conversation, to notice that a certain slave-driver of a boss had overheard every single word of their previous exchange and now, the poor Shinichiro didn't have a clue what to do with this newly acquired piece of information.

'Crap,' he muttered while he too made his way back to his office. Once there, he dropped himself onto his usual seat and, lighting a cigarette, he stared at the phone on his desk, pondering whether he should pick it up to call a very well known tofu shop.

Five minutes later, he put his cigarette out by pressing it on his beloved Dunlop ashtray, a present some friend had bought for him in England and, remembering the very firm way Masashi and Yuuichi had insisted on helping Bunta out made him reach a decision so, getting back up from his chair, he just walked out of his office without sparing a second glance a the phone.

It was late on Saturday evening when Bunta strode from the house's living room into the tofu shop's working area, finding his uncle Eikichi there, as usual busy preparing the following night's delivery.

'Bunta,' he said, 'are you going out?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, hoping against hope that his uncle would not notice just how nervous he was. For this reason, he tried to make his way to the door when he felt a hand onto his shoulder. That made him stop but, for some reason, he refused to look at Eikichi in the eye.

'Kid,' the older man said, 'I just want to say one thing.'

'Sure,' Bunta forced himself to say.

'I'm not sure what's been going on with you in these past few days but, if there's anything I can do to help.'

Bunta turned round slowly and, still refusing to look at Eikichi, he said:

'Don't worry, everything's fine.'

'Alright,' Eikichi decided to accept, 'just in case, I won't go to bed tonight. There's a book I want to finish and it'll probably take me all night.'

'Uncle Eikichi,' Bunta said, this time looking at him, wanting to kick himself for the very worried expression which could be seen on the older man's face, 'everything's fine, trust me.'

'I trust you,' Eikichi assured him, 'I just hope you trust me too.'

'I do,' Bunta said and, with that, knowing that he'd be unable to keep his façade on for much longer, he rushed out of the shop and towards his Toyota 2000GT.

'Liar,' Eikichi muttered to no one in particular and then, as he had originally planned, he hurried to get the tofu made a lot faster than he usually did all the while he heard his nephew turning the Toyota's engine on first then driving off a few instants later.

Just as they had agreed, Bunta met up with the entire Akina Firebolts team, plus Yuuichi, who had asked Fuka to stay at home that night, and quite a few other guys Bunta had only known by sight. In any case, there were over two dozen cars at the Family's restaurant car park.

'Isn't this a bit much?' Bunta asked to Masashi the minute he parked his 2000GT next to the red Fairlady Z.

'Nope,' Masashi replied, 'a few other guys are already taking positions around Irohazaka as we speak and they've got instructions to get in touch with us somehow should they see anything weird going on in there.'

'That's right,' Izumi said, intervening in the conversation, 'we've called all the reinforcements, just in case…'

'He knows too?' Bunta asked to Masashi glaring him in disapproval.

'Everyone does Bunta,' Masashi replied, 'like I said, there were rumours and, well, let's just say that we prefer being safe than sorry.'

'Yeah, I guess that's a wise move,' Bunta admitted in spite of all the shame he was beginning to feel. Geez, if this got any more humiliating he'd have to drive himself down the nearest cliff.

'Don't worry,' Yuuichi told him, as though as if he could read his thoughts, 'no one here thinks any differently of you. If anything, most of these guys believe that it was that Nakashima guy who ran away from you.'

'Really?' Bunta asked him.

'I can personally confirm that,' Masashi replied, 'in fact, some of them have spread the story that you made Nakashima crash and that he's now looking for you to get revenge.'

Bunta stared at the Akina Firebolts' leader in disbelief, then, shaking his head, he said:

'See? This is why I hate any form of gossip.'

'Me and you both,' Masashi agreed, 'now, we should get going so, wait here until a few of our cars are driving ahead of…'

'No,' Bunta said, 'I'm very grateful for what you guys are doing but I think I prefer driving in front of all of you. I don't want anyone in Irohazaka to think I'm scared,' he explained, then, just to be sure, he added, 'because I'm certainly not afraid of a bunch of Tokyo gangsters.'

'Of course you're not,' Yuuichi said.

'Alright,' Masashi conceded then, raising his voice so that everyone from the crowd could hear him, he shouted, 'TIME TO MOVE OUT GUYS!'

He then observed as Bunta walked straight-backed towards his car, climbing into it and re-starting its engine, making it roll out of the car park and onto the adjacent road and then it hit him. He remembered Bunta's expression when saying that he wasn't scared and, all of a sudden, he felt his lips curve to form a tiny smile:

That crazy bastard was actually looking forward to this!

_To be continued…_


	33. Chapter Thirty Two

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty Two_

With Bunta's Toyota 2000GT leading the long column of cars on their way to the Nikko area, what it usually was a one hour ride, ended up taking less than forty five minutes for he had imposed an average speed which was significantly higher than what most people considered wise.

In any case, while Yuuichi followed him out of the motorway and into the much smaller road which led to the winding twin roads which formed the Irohazaka mountain pass, he couldn't help but to admire his best friend's courage. Had he been in his position, Yuuichi wasn't sure he would have handled this whole issue quite so bravely.

This brought Yuuichi to consider just how awful Bunta must have felt when, not really having any other viable choice, he had been forced to leave a battle right at the middle of it and, if he wanted to be honest, he was looking forward to seeing how Bunta would confront that white-haired guy from Tokyo. That was, if he showed up at Irohazaka…

That very gloomy prospect made Yuuichi feel rather worried but, yet again, Bunta was as crazy as he was unpredictable so, no one but him really knew how he would react.

Distracted as he was by all of those thoughts, Yuuichi only saw the 2000GT's brake lights a fraction of a second before his own foot pressed the brake pedal of his Mazda Capella and, while he made his car stop, he silently prayed so that Masashi's concentration was a lot more focused on driving than his.

Thankfully for him it was.

Only after Yuuichi was absolutely sure that his car was not going to suffer any damage, he allowed himself to look ahead so that he would see the reason behind Bunta's abrupt halt, first noticing that they had already arrived to the car park which occupied the base of the Irohazaka pass then, a bit further ahead, he saw something or, rather, someone who made him gasp.

'What the…' he muttered while he copied Bunta, and everyone else for that matter, and climbed out of his car. What in the heck was that guy doing in here? Yuuichi asked himself but then, and since apparently Bunta had just voiced that very same question to the newcomer, he got an answer without having had to open his mouth:

'I found out you were in trouble with Nakashima,' Takao explained, 'and I decided to come and see by myself what this whole deal was about.'

'You shouldn't have come,' Bunta said, showing just a trace of exasperation through his voice, 'this has nothing to do with you,' he then added and then Yuuichi feared that his best friend had just crossed the line.

'You're wrong,' Takao replied keeping his cool in spite of Bunta's insolence, 'I happen to make my business everything which has anything to do with Nakashima.'

'I thought you had retired from racing,' Bunta countered and, before Takao had the time to reply to the question, they all saw three very familiar looking people walking towards them coming from the nearby car park.

Once they were under one of the streetlights, they recognised in one of them the white-haired Saburo Nakashima. The other two were the same two mates Bunta had seen him with at the Wangan. Ignoring those two, Bunta kept his eyes firmly glued to Nakashima's face while he readied himself for whatever Nakashima did or said.

'What are you doing in here?' the white-haired guy asked, looking at Takao while completely disregarding Bunta's presence there. That pissed the teenager off quite a lot but, knowing that he had to show some respect to the two much older racers, he, together with everyone else, waited to hear Takao's answer.

'I can't see why you care,' the guy said, 'but now that you ask, I'm here to see a friend,' he then added pointing at Bunta with a slight gesture made with his head.

'I see,' Nakashima said and, only then, he looked at Bunta first, then at the large amount of people who were now standing next to the numerous cars, the engines of which, made quite a ruckus, 'so,' he then started, 'I see you've brought reinforcements…'

'Hey!' yet another person shouted from a bit further away and, recognising the voice's owner made Bunta want to burst out into a hysterical laughter. Instead, he limited himself to smirk as he said:

'Kogashiwa…'

'What's going on in here?' the local guy asked.

'That's what I'd like to know,' Takao added then, glancing over at Bunta, he gave the younger guy an inquisitive look.

'I'm here to race him,' Bunta replied pointing at Kogashiwa then, indicating Nakashima, he added with as much indifference as he could muster, 'and I have no idea what he wants.'

'Oh, that's easy,' an unfazed Nakashima replied with an all-too-sweet smile, 'I only want two things: an explanation and another race.'

'You raced him?' Takao asked Bunta incredulously and, since in his opinion things were getting dangerously fast out of hand, Masashi decided to intervene so that he could try to sort a bit of this mess out. So, positioning himself next to Bunta, he looked at Kogashiwa and said:

'Alright, you and Bunta are going to race in a minute so, please be patient, okay?'

'But…'

'You,' Masashi then said looking at Takao, 'I understand you may be feeling a bit…you know…after what happened to your friend…'

'That was an accident!' Nakashima exclaimed all of a sudden.

'The hell it was!' Takao shouted, 'Yoshiki-san had raced numerous times down the Wangan and he had never so much as scratched his car!'

'What are you trying to imply?' Nakashima asked, his threatening tone of voice ruining any hopes Masashi had of finding a peaceful way of getting things under control.

'You know what I mean,' Takao replied in the same malicious tone.

'Guys, come on,' Masashi tried again, 'we…'

'FOR FUCK'S SAKE!' Nakashima shouted, 'I WASN'T ANYWHERE NEAR HIM WHEN HE CRASHED!'

'Yeah, that's what you say,' Takao hissed angrily, 'if you think I'll believe a freaking word of…'

'Look,' Nakashima interrupted him, this time using a much lower tone of voice and, while he raked his white hair with a nervous hand, he said, 'he was miles ahead of me. I saw him lose control of his car just at that spot where the C2 starts from.'

'No way…'

'Takao-san,' Bunta finally said, 'I don't think he's lying.'

'Bunta…'

'Honestly,' he insisted, 'I don't know this guy very much but, any racer who admits to have been losing in a race is probably being honest enough.'

Takao looked at Nakashima and, very slowly, his glare turned more into an assessing glance and, after a couple of minutes, he nodded and, talking to Bunta, he said:

'You're probably right.'

'He is,' Nakashima agreed and, for the tiniest of instants, he looked at Bunta almost gratefully then, creasing his brow into a frown, he said, 'since we're being so honest in here, I'd like you to tell me the reason why you ran away from the race.'

'He WHAT?' Kogashiwa shouted and that made Masashi, and quite a few other people, sigh loudly for most of them were looking forward to hearing what Bunta had to say. In any case, no one needed to tell him to be quiet for Nakashima himself threw a very menacing look at the poor Kogashiwa before returning his gaze back to Bunta.

'So,' Nakashima continued, 'why didn't you race me fairly?'

Bunta stared at him for a few seconds before he replied:

'Because it's stupid.'

'What is?' Nakashima asked him, his frown becoming a notch deeper hearing the very badly stifled chuckles coming from several of the Akina Firebolts.

'Racing at the Wangan,' Bunta replied.

Now most of the chuckles became gasps of either surprise or disbelief. Masashi and Yuuichi got even more worried that, if he kept going on like that, Bunta would end up causing a major riot that night.

'Do you care to explain yourself a bit better?' Nakashima asked.

'Please do,' Yuuichi couldn't help but to add.

'Alright then,' Bunta agreed, 'you see that?' he then asked to Nakashima while pointing at one of the twisted one-way roads which formed the Irohazaka pass.

'What?' Nakashima asked, 'that road?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'what do you see?'

At that point everyone was as confused as Nakashima who, not really knowing if there was an actual point to all of those questions, just shrugged his broad shoulders and said:

'Nothing really, it's just a road. A very narrow, twisted road.'

'Can you see any traffic now?' Bunta asked him and, seeing Nakashima shake his head looking more puzzled than ever, he added, 'right, because when we do race in here, there is next to no traffic.'

'Ah, I see,' Nakashima said triumphantly, 'you were afraid of racing me at the Wangan because of the traffic!'

Once again, there was a huge commotion while some of the guys from Akina protested vehemently. All of their complaints were promptly silenced when they saw Bunta nodding his agreement to what Nakashima had just said.

'That's right,' Bunta said, 'I was afraid of racing among so many other vehicles,' he explained then, before Nakashima could so much as open his mouth to laugh out loud, Bunta said something else: 'not because I can't race in the middle of a motorway with other cars around me, it's more a question of what happens if the person I'm racing against is not skilled enough and crashes. Have you ever thought about the fact that, if that ever happened, there'd be a very high risk of getting innocent people involved or, worse, killed?'

For some reason, Nakashima found it very difficult to keep looking at Bunta in the eye and, as both Masashi and Yuuichi realised, so did the two other guys who were with him. Even Takao seemed a bit ashamed of himself.

'In here,' Bunta continued, 'if one of us crashes, the worst thing which can happen is that we go down the cliff on our own. I prefer racing in here because we get to keep casualties to the very minimum.'

'Bunta…' Takao started.

'That said,' the younger guy carried on, 'if you ever want to race me, you're welcome to challenge me to a race at any of the mountain passes of the Kanto region. Take your pick and I'll be there.'

'Speaking of races,' Kogashiwa ventured.

'Oh yeah,' Bunta said looking at his rival as though as if he had just realised he was there, 'we've got to race tonight.'

'Well, yeah,' Kogashiwa replied sarcastically, 'unless you're too busy…'

Bunta looked at him with a surprised expression on his face, expression which quickly turned into the overconfident smirk both Yuuichi and Masashi liked so much but that tended to get Bunta's opponents to feel quite unnerved.

'I am a busy man,' he said, 'but I think I can give you a bit of my time.'

With that, he turned around and started making his way back to his car when Nakashima said:

'Wait a minute.'

'Yeah?' Bunta replied without turning round.

'What about me?' Nakashima asked sounding rather amused, 'do you think you can give me a bit of your time too?'

They all saw as Bunta shrugged before he turned his head slowly so that he could look at the white haired guy as he smirked again and said:

'I can't see why not, however and since you're probably used to the Wangan, I'll give you a month so that you can pick the venue and get some practice on it.'

'Alright,' an astonished Nakashima managed to reply, 'how will I let you know of my choice?'

'Go to Shibukawa,' Bunta said, 'find the Fujiwara Tofu Shop and you'll find me.'

After that, he closed the short distance which separated him from his car and, climbing into it, he turned the engine on and started rolling his car a bit further ahead where he'd seen Kogashiwa's dark blue GT-R parked and, maybe it was his hyperactive imagination, caused by the very high levels of adrenaline but, for a very short moment, he thought he'd seen there, at the end of the long road which led to the Irohazaka pass, an awfully familiar looking white and black Isuzu.

That made him skip a step but then, he brushed that thought off and decided to focus on the uphill battle he now had ahead of himself for he knew that, in order to beat Kogashiwa, he would to concentrate every single one of his senses on the task of getting his car to the base as fast as he could.

Soon enough, everyone at the base watched as Bunta's Toyota followed Kogashiwa's Nissan up the road for they had pre-agreed that they would only start the race the minute both drivers would switch to the downhill sector of the mountain pass.

Meanwhile, Nakashima and his two mates were observing the two cars' progression, all three of them standing next to the black 2000GT when its owner, still amazed by the exchange he had just witnessed, said to his friends:

'I can't believe the cheek of him.'

'I know,' said the sumo wrestler-like guy, 'the minute the race finishes.'

'Yeah,' the other one agreed, 'we can teach him a lesson if...'

'No,' Nakashima interrupted them, 'I don't know why but, something tells me that he can actually back up what he said with his skills.'

'That's right,' Takao said, coming out of nowhere, 'he has quite a big mouth but, like you said, he can back it up with his driving.'

'You seem to talk through personal experience,' Nakashima commented.

'I do,' Takao replied, 'he beat us both Yoshiki-san and I...at the Old Harbour course.'

'No way,' Nakashima exclaimed, 'no one...'

'No one had ever beaten Yoshiki-san there,' Takao finished for him, 'and, until that kid showed up for his first race ever, no one had ever beaten me either.'

'His first race ever?' Nakashima asked raising his eyebrows in surprise.

'Yeah,' Takao replied and then, as though as he had just realised who he was talking to, frowned with a trace of anger flashing in his eyes and was about to turn round to leave when Nakashima's voice stopped him.

'Hey,' the white-haired guy said, 'I'm really sorry for what happened with Yoshiki-san.'

'Yeah, right...'

'I'm serious,' Nakashima insisted, 'Yoshiki-san was a great guy and an amazing racer.'

'He was,' Takao said then, after staring at Nakashima for a bit, he started making his way to his car, having to stop once again when Nakashima said:

'You're not staying for the race?'

'Nope,' Takao replied without turning round, 'for one, I'm retired, and besides, what's the point, I know who's going to win.'

With that, he walked back to his dark gold Mazda RX-2 and Nakashima observed as he climbed into it, turned the engine on and took off, leaving a trail of red light behind him.

'What a guy,' Nakashima muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, Bunta had only spent a few minutes behind his best enemy but it felt like an eternity and he was very grateful when, at long last, he spotted the end of the road at which, he knew, there was a sharp turn which would take both of them downhill.

He could, of course, use up that chance to get ahead but, Bunta didn't want to do finish things off quite so early on the race and, besides, he had learned that being patient and keeping a cool head tended to pay off, especially towards the end of the race.

In any case, he was racing Kogashiwa and he knew better than to think that the Tochigi guy would make things easy for him and, for this reason, Bunta made sure he kept the front bumper of his 2000GT firmly stuck to the GT-R's rear one all the way around the sharp corner and throughout the first few metres of the downhill section.

'Geez...' Bunta breathed stealing a quick look at the speedometer, realising that within just a seconds into the actual race, they were already travelling at over one hundred and thirty kilometres an hour.

At such high speed, it didn't take long for the two vehicles to reach the first hairpin corners and, just as he had predicted, Kogashiwa started using them to jump from the upper sector of the road to the one beneath it, clearing the corners in half as much time as it would have taken had he gone around them normally.

Not wanting to be left behind and showing to his rival that he too possessed the skills needed to perform such a risky manoeuvre, Bunta followed Kogashiwa through every single one of the jumps feeling extremely happy with all the work he'd put on his Toyota's suspensions and, while they tackled the very last of the sharp corners, the two cars reached the fastest section of the course still pretty much attached to each other.

'Fuck,' Kogashiwa muttered from the inside of his Skyline for, so far, nothing he had done had managed to increase the gap between his car and the Toyota and that was very bad news for him

In fact, now that they were beginning to cover the much wider and faster corners, the 2000GT's higher horsepower would definitely have the advantage. Not only that but, what Kogashiwa feared the most was that, now that Bunta had the space he needed, unless he did something drastic pretty soon, Kogashiwa had some serious doubts that he could remain ahead for much longer.

With that very worrying thought looming over him, Kogashiwa opened the throttle and hoped that the modifications he had done to the GT-R's two litre engine would cope with it. He also remembered what his friends told him when he had crashed the Nissan a few months before regarding the possibility of sending it to the scrap yard.

As if, Kogashiwa thought while he unconsciously tapped the steering wheel with his right hand. There was no way he'd get rid of his beloved GT-R, he would keep it for as long as it ran for, in his opinion, there wasn't a better car to race in these mountain passes as the Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R.

'What in the heck...' Bunta muttered to himself seeing the very odd line the Nissan was now taking and, soon enough, he saw something that made him consider throwing his carefully planned strategy out of the window: for some reason, Kogashiwa was now tackling the corners leaving a large enough gap for Bunta to even try and overtake him.

That left Bunta with a huge dilemma: should he try and pass Kogashiwa now or, should he stick to the carefully planned strategy he had?

_To be continued..._


	34. Chapter Thirty Three

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty Three_

After four corners, Bunta found himself barely resisting the way Kogashiwa seemed to be tempting him to try and overtake him. He was about to decide to wait till the first of the three bridges, where there was a short section in which the inclination changed quite drastically and where he'd try the first of his attacks when he saw it.

'No way…' he muttered.

Kogashiwa had just entered the upcoming turn, a very wide, high speed right hander, leaving an even larger space than he had been doing up to then. That did it for Bunta who, realising that he would probably not have a much better chance, he chose to throw caution out of the window and, pressing the accelerator of his Toyota, he aimed its nose straight for the gap.

With the speedometer's needle coming near the one hundred and thirty mark it didn't take much for Bunta to level his car with that of Kogashiwa and soon both cars were side by side going around the corner, Kogashiwa running on the outside while Bunta almost brushed the inner wall.

They cleared the corner together and entered a very short straight like that.

Between the two cars, there weren't more than ten centimetres, any false move from any of the two drivers would send the cars crashing and it was only then when Bunta remembered a small but crucial detail: he was racing against Ken Kogashiwa.

He hadn't even finished that thought when he saw the GT-R speeding up as the two cars were about to enter the following corner, a much sharper left-hander. Using up the 2000GT's much more powerful engine, Bunta didn't give a single inch up and, if anything, he managed to enter the corner about half a car ahead of Kogashiwa.

Bunta was then going to finish clearing the turn when he saw through the left side rear view mirror that the midnight blue Skyline was just a hair away from his Toyota and was actually getting closer.

'What the heck?' he only had time to say before he forced himself to veer towards the wall in order to avoid a more than certain collision even though there didn't seem anything which could be done to prevent that from happening.

Holding his breath, Bunta prayed for all that was holy so that he wouldn't damage the car in any way when he felt a slight jolt coming from the back of the car. Having other things to worry about, he decided to ignore that and focused on clearing the corner without crashing his car instead.

Somehow, not only he managed to do just that but, what was even more unbelievable, Bunta managed to leave Kogashiwa's Nissan GT-R behind, only then he let himself reassume breathing.

He was about to start thinking of how to tackle the following turn when he felt that the back of the car wasn't responding to his commands the way he wanted it to.

'No…' he whispered.

There was no way he could be so unlucky, Bunta thought beginning to feel rather panicky, getting positively freaked out when he finally figured out what was wrong with the car: he had just got one of the rear tyres punctured.

Fighting with all his might to keep the car under his control, he stole a quick glance at the inner rear view mirror, seeing through it that Kogashiwa had not given up the battle and was very much prepared to take the lead once again.

Because of this, Bunta decided that he wouldn't give up either and, readjusting his work pedal in what was a rather desperate attempt at trying to overcome such a huge handicap, he entered the corner, turning the steering wheel while hoping for the best.

Predictably enough, the car's behaviour was, at best, erratic and it took every ounce of Bunta's determination just to clear the corner making him realise that there was absolutely no way he could finish the race like this.

'Shit,' he said slapping the steering wheel with his left hand.

Before he went to move his foot to place over the brake pedal, he stole yet another glance at the rear view mirror. What he saw through it this time left him absolutely speechless: Kogashiwa had just pulled over to the side of the road.

Doing the very same thing, Bunta parked his car next to the guardrail. However and for some childish reason, he refused to climb out of the car, waiting for Kogashiwa to come to him instead. He didn't have to wait for too long for, just a few moments later, he saw his rival tapping the Toyota's driver's side window.

Bunta rolled it down and, before Kogashiwa could even open his mouth, he said:

'Alright, you've won.'

'What are you talking about?' Kogashiwa asked him.

'Come on,' Bunta hissed angrily, 'you've noticed it, haven't you?'

'What?' Kogashiwa asked him. Was he being obnoxious on purpose or what? Bunta thought feeling even more miserable. He then heard the spectacled guy say, 'you've got a punctured tyre.'

'I know,' Bunta managed to say.

'We can't carry on with the race,' Kogashiwa pointed out.

This time Bunta couldn't find the energy to reply so he just stared at the Toyota's steering wheel silently hoping Kogashiwa would just leave him alone. He'd already admitted defeat, what else did that freak want from him?

'It seems like we'll have to race again some other time,' Kogashiwa said.

'What?' Bunta asked, his voice filled with incredulity.

'You heard me,' Kogashiwa said, 'look, if you hadn't punctured your tyre, you would have won tonight.'

'We don't know that,' Bunta interrupted.

'I do,' Kogashiwa said, 'to start with, my strategy didn't work: you still managed to get ahead of me. Also, if you hadn't punctured, I doubt I could have caught up with you. If you had overtaken me during the hairpins sector, I wouldn't have had any problems getting passed you but…in here.'

'So,' Bunta said, 'what do you propose?'

'Another race, of course,' Kogashiwa replied, 'you know that until we don't settle this none of us will be happy.'

He was right.

'Okay,' Bunta started.

'However,' Kogashiwa cut him off, 'this time, I want to race you in Akina. Something tells me that we'll never finish a race if we keep battling in here.'

In spite of everything, Bunta let out a chuckle then, nodding once, he said:

'You're probably right. How does the last Saturday of March sound to you?'

'Sounds great,' Kogashiwa replied.

A few moments of awkward silence ensued.

'So,' Kogashiwa finally said, 'do you need a hand changing that tyre?'

That question made Bunta react and, looking at his best enemy with a sarcastic expression on his face, he laughed dryly before replying:

'Hey, it's me you're talking to.'

Kogashiwa glared at him for a short moment.

'You're such a punk,' he said then, without exchanging a further word, he turned round and went back to his GT-R, climbing into it and driving passed Bunta so fast that he even felt the 2000GT's bodywork shake slightly.

Bunta spent a few minutes sitting in the darkness of his car, trying to figure out how he felt about this whole fiasco of a race when, deciding he wasn't going anywhere with this particular train of thought, he got out of the car and walked to the trunk so that he could retrieve the spare tyre.

After lifting the car up, he started working on the first of the knobs when he heard at least a couple of engines coming down the road and, soon enough, he saw the headlights of a car driving towards him. He shielded his eyes with his left hand, trying to make out which car it was when he saw something that made him drop the tool he had in his hand.

'What in the…' he muttered when, driving in front of Masashi's Fairlady Z and Yuuichi's Capella, he saw the white and black Isuzu Bellett he knew only too well. Bunta waited there until all tree cars were parked by the road's guardrail, not too far from where the 2000GT was. So, he thought, when he'd seen the Bellett earlier on, it hadn't been a product of his stressed mind after all…

'Hey there,' Eikichi Fujiwara said climbing out of his car.

'Eikichi…'

'So, what happened?' the older man asked pointing at the car with a slight gesture of his head.

'It's obvious, isn't it?' Bunta asked him, trying his best to hide just how very embarrassed he felt about it all.

'You punctured a tyre,' Eikichi commented flatly shrugging his shoulders, 'big deal.'

'Uncle…'

'Hurry up and get that tyre changed then,' Eikichi interrupted his nephew, 'you don't need a hand to do that, do you?' he then challenged him.

'Of course not,' Bunta replied gruffly, 'I'll be done in a minute if you don't disturb me.'

Instead of taking offence, Eikichi just let out a soft chuckle then, moving towards where both Masashi and Yuuichi stood, all three of them crossed their arms on their chests and started observing Bunta while he changed the punctured tyre.

He really didn't know how he managed to complete the whole operation without sending them to hell but, somehow, he finished replacing the damaged tyre back in the trunk and put the two tools he'd used to change it.

'Done?' Eikichi then asked him.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, his voice barely showing the anger he was beginning to feel.

'Right,' Eikichi said then, glancing over to Masashi and Yuuichi, he said, 'you two can go home now.'

'Yes, sir,' Masashi replied.

'Er…' Yuuichi hesitated.

'Yes?' Eikichi asked.

'Er…,' he tried again, 'is just that, well…the guys will probably want to know what happened and…'

'I lost,' Bunta almost barked, 'that's what happened and that's what you're going to tell them.'

Yuuichi, and Masashi for that matter, looked positively taken aback by their friend's admission for they were really worried about the consequences this could have regarding Bunta's reputation as a street racer. True, he hadn't been around for long but…

'You haven't lost,' Masashi said interrupting Yuuichi's thoughts.

'Yes I have,' Bunta insisted, 'look guys, it had to happen sooner or later, okay?'

'You haven't lost,' Masashi repeated, 'I've seen Kogashiwa's expression and, if anything, it looked like he thinks he's been defeated again…'

'What are you talking about?' Bunta asked.

'What happened exactly?' Masashi asked back.

Bunta stared at him for a short while before looking down at the ground between his feet, allowing his mind to replay the moment when he thought he had managed to overtake Kogashiwa…he'd felt so freaking happy! Then, when he realised the tyre was punctured…

'Alright…' he said after letting out a very long breath, he then continued explaining in full detail the incident.

'Ouch,' was all Yuuichi managed to say.

'I know…it was stupid,' Bunta accepted.

'It was,' Eikichi said mercilessly, 'now,' he added looking once more over to Masashi and Yuuichi, 'it's time you went back home. I want to talk to my nephew in private.'

The two young men nodded politely before complying what now was a direct order. Bunta watched them as they climbed into their cars and, with the Fairlady Z in front, the two of them left Bunta alone with his uncle.

'So,' he started before Eikichi had the time to open his mouth, 'what are you doing in here?'

Eikichi, instead of replying, pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and, taking one out of it, he lit it up and took a long puff before he looked back at his nephew.

'I've got a confession to make,' he started.

'And that is?' Bunta asked him, feeling fairly proud of himself for being able to keep his cool in spite of everything.

'When you left home earlier on,' Eikichi replied, 'I was afraid you'd do something stupid.'

'Like what?' Bunta asked him.

'I don't know,' Eikichi admitted, 'I just thought that you'd been acting weirdly in these past few days and, to be honest, I no longer knew what to expect from you.'

'Eikichi…'

'However,' the older man continued, 'I have to say that I'm very happy I came here.'

'And why is that?' Bunta dared to ask.

Eikichi took yet another puff and then, he walked towards the Toyota and leant against it while exhaling the smoke, having fun making little hops out of it.

'I'm very proud of you,' he finally said.

'You are?' Bunta asked, his voice filled with both disbelief and surprise.

'Yep,' Eikichi replied.

'But Uncle Eikichi,' Bunta said, 'I just lost a race.'

'That's arguable,' Eikichi countered, 'and besides, that's not what makes me feel proud of you.'

'It isn't?' Bunta said.

'No. What makes me proud of you is the fact that you managed to stick to what you promised me regarding racing at the Wangan. You kept your word and…'

'And?'

The older man took another puff of his cigarette before dropping it to the ground, stepping on it to make sure it was put out properly then, pushing himself away from his nephew's car, he walked towards Bunta and placed his right hand on the teenager's left shoulder.

'And I can now say you're a man.'

Bunta stared at him not really knowing what to reply to that.

'As such,' Eikichi carried on, 'from now on you've got my full trust.'

Bunta found himself looking down at his feet, becoming suddenly fascinated by his shoelaces in what was a rather pathetic attempt at trying to hide the fact that his uncle had just made him feel extremely emotional and, for one, he was very thankful the old man had sent Masashi and Yuuichi back home, or else.

'Let's go back home now,' Eikichi said, squeezing Bunta's shoulder for a brief instant before letting go of him, 'I still have to get the tofu in the boxes.'

Eikichi started walking back to his car when, for some reason unknown to even himself, Bunta felt the need to say something he had meant to say for quite a long time.

'Uncle Eikichi,' he said, grateful that the older man was giving his back to him, 'I don't know if I've ever said this to you but, I think I was really lucky when you accepted me into your house and I have to thank you for that.'

There were a few moments during which a very heavy silence fell upon them then, keeping his back firmly turned towards him and using a really weird, emotional-laden voice, Eikichi said:

'You're more than welcome, and you know it.'

Bunta stared at his uncle while the old man climbed behind the wheel of his Bellett and, it probably was a product of his imagination but he could have sworn he'd seen an abnormal shine in his uncle's eyes.

'So, he's a human being after all,' he muttered to himself while he too got into his car.

Letting out a soft chuckle, Bunta turned the engine of his Toyota back on and, waiting for his uncle to lead the way, the two Fujiwaras made it back to their home in Shibukawa.

The news of Bunta's latest battle at Irohazaka were spread around the street racing community even faster than usual and, soon, there were so many different rumours about what had happened that the Akina Firebolts had heaps of fun discussing the weirdest theories they had heard.

'Just ignore them,' Masashi advised Bunta one afternoon, almost two weeks after the infamous race, while the two guys worked on re-adjusting the suspensions of a brand new model of Mazda, the RX-3 which was painted in a gorgeous dark red colour.

'I'm doing that already,' Bunta said, 'I'm thinking about it as training.'

'Training?' Masashi repeated.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'after all, if I'm ever going to become a professional racer, I need to learn how to deal with the gossip and that kind of thing…'

'That's right,' Masashi agreed then, walking to his tool-box to select a wrench of a smaller size than the one he had, he said, 'speaking of your pro-racer career, how is the work on the 2000GT coming along?'

'It's great,' Bunta replied, 'my uncle's taking it for a spin as we speak. I think he's taken Nitta-san with him.'

'Oh crap,' Masashi said creasing his brow into what was supposed to be a worried frown, 'poor thing…I think our boss is getting a tad too old for this.'

'Me too,' Bunta agreed letting out an amused chuckle.

'You know,' Masashi said, 'one of these days I'm going to ask your uncle to take me for a ride in his Bellett, do you think he'll accept?'

'I don't know,' Bunta replied, 'I can't see why not though, I think he gets a kick out of torturing people.'

'Look who's talking,' Masashi said, 'who's the one who loves making poor Yuuichi feel sick while driving down Mt Akina?'

'Ah…well…' Bunta started saying when, all of a sudden, Takayuki a balding guy in his mid forties who was the shop's deputy manager, stepped into the garage looking extremely anxious.

'Taka-san?' Masashi started, 'what's wrong?'

'Fujiwara-kun,' Takayuki said completely ignoring Masashi and looking straight at Bunta, 'you've got to go to the hospital.'

'WHY?' Masashi interrupted him.

'What's happened?' Bunta asked Takayuki, now sounding as concerned as the older man did.

'I'm not too sure,' he replied, 'Shinichiro just called a second ago saying something about your uncle.'

The deputy manager never finished the sentence for, right at that moment, Bunta dropped everything he had in his hands and, not giving it a second thought, he started running out of the garage. It took Masashi a fraction of a second to react but then, he too dropped everything he had in his hands and started following his friend, leaving a very worried Takayuki behind.

'WAIT!' Masashi shouted at Bunta just before the younger man could walk out of the shop's main entrance, 'BUNTA! PLEASE WAIT!' he repeated finally achieving what he'd been after: Bunta stopped running and, without bothering with turning around to face him, he asked:

'What do you want?'

'I'll go and get my car, it'll be faster that way.'

'Hurry up then,' Bunta replied.

Masashi didn't need to be told twice and, not even half a minute later, the two friends were on their way to the only hospital the city of Shibukawa had, with Masashi breaking every single one of the speed limits while Bunta started feeling that odd sensation inside his stomach, as though as it had been filled with iced water.

'He's okay,' he managed to hear Masashi say, 'you'll see.'

'Just drive, will you please?' Bunta replied, his voice clipped by all the worry he was beginning to feel. Nonetheless, he prayed for all that was holy that Masashi's optimistic prediction would turn out to be true, for he really could not bring himself to think of what would happen if…

Bunta's brain blocked that thought for there was no way fate could be so cruel as to deprive him of his uncle after having taken both of his parents away from him. There simply was no way.

_To be continued…_


	35. Chapter Thirty Four

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty Four_

Masashi would never know just how grateful Bunta felt when, seeing the state of shock in which the younger guy was, he decided to take care of walking him to the small hospital's admissions desk and personally ask the middle-aged nurse who sat at it after the whereabouts of Eikichi Fujiwara.

'Come on,' Masashi said giving Bunta a gentle push in the direction he had just been given.

Inside the waiting room, the walls of which were painted in a delicate shade of blue, they saw their boss sitting on a white plastic chair, looking more worried than they had ever seen him.

'Bunta…' Nitta-san started, literally springing up from the chair.

'How is he?' Masashi asked to his manager instead for he really didn't think Bunta could bring himself to speak right now.

'I don't…'

Nitta-san's reply was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a very young looking, male doctor who identified himself as the assistant of the hospital's chief cardiologist. He cast a quick glance around the room, focusing his bespectacled eyes on Bunta.

'I take you're a relative,' the doctor stated more than asked.

'I am,' Bunta managed to reply.

'He's his nephew,' Nitta-san added.

'I see,' the doctor commented then, pointing towards the door with a slight gesture made with his head, he said, 'please follow me, we need to…'

'Whatever you need to say,' a very serious Bunta interrupted him, 'you can say it in front of them.'

If the doctor was taken aback by this, he was quick enough to hide it and, nodding a couple of times, he took a very deep breath and, removing his glasses, he said:

'Alright, Fujiwara-san, your uncle, has had a very mild angina.'

'A what?' Bunta asked him.

'An angina,' the doctor repeated, 'it's a condition that affects the heart. Essentially, what happens is that the myocardium, the heart's muscle, doesn't receive enough oxygen and that causes a variable degree of pain.'

'He's had a heart attack?' Bunta almost whimpered.

'No, no,' the doctor hurried to reply, 'like I said, it was only angina. However, this condition can get worse very quickly so we'll have to keep your uncle in observation for a few days, just to make sure things don't get out of hand.'

'Does he know that?' Bunta asked.

'Not yet,' the doctor replied, 'he's been given some sedatives to help him sleep but, don't worry, he won't have to be here for too long, provided the episode doesn't repeat while he is here.'

'He's not going to like that,' Bunta commented, as though as he was talking to himself. He looked so worried that Masashi and Nitta-san exchanged a very concerned glance before the latter said:

'Doctor, Fujiwara-san's going to be alright, isn't he?'

The young doctor put his glasses back on before he replied:

'He's going to need to take better care of himself. From now on, he should not overdo things, he should keep a life-style as healthy as possible and, naturally, we're going to give him some medication to relieve his heart from any unnecessary stress.'

'Right,' Bunta snorted sarcastically, 'he's definitely NOT going to like that.'

Everyone stared at him for a few seconds and, clearly not knowing what else to say, the doctor just told Bunta if he wanted to go and seat by his uncle's bedside so that he could wait there till Eikichi would wake up.

'Sure,' the teenager said and, following the doctor, he left both Nitta-san and Masashi in the waiting room. Both the shop's manager and his employee remained in silence for a couple of minutes before the younger man glanced at his boss and asked:

'What happened?'

'I'm not too sure,' Nitta-san replied, 'one minute Fujiwara-san was doing great, he was drifting that 2000GT around one of the hairpins when, all of a sudden, I saw that he looked to be in some serious pain, holding his chest with his hand while trying to slow the car down.'

'He didn't crash it, did he?' Masashi asked only to realise that he was being extremely insensitive, 'I'm sorry…'

'Fujiwara-san managed to stop the car just a few centimetres away from the guardrail,' Nitta-san replied. Then, sitting heavily back down onto the same white plastic chair, he said, 'I can't believe how lucky we were.'

'Yeah,' Masashi agreed.

'No,' Nitta-san said, 'I don't mean about the car, I mean about the fact that an ambulance was coming up the road right at that moment. Don't tell Bunta but I think the paramedics actually prevented Fujiwara-san from having a heart attack.'

Masashi just remained quiet while he sent a silent prayer to any god who might have been listening for he really didn't want to think of what would happen to Bunta had he lost his uncle too. In any case, Masashi thought, things weren't all that cheerful for his friend and workmate right now: who would take care of the shop now that Fujiwara-san was forced to take bed rest?

'I wonder what Bunta's going to do with the shop,' Nitta-san said all of a sudden, startling Masashi for the older man was voicing his very thoughts.

'I have no idea,' he replied, 'but regardless of what he does, he can count on me for whatever he needs.'

'Same here,' Nitta-san said.

Meanwhile, Bunta had spent a good ten minutes staring at his uncle's sleeping face realising that it was the first time ever he had actually seen the older man asleep. It was odd, he thought, they had been living together for all these months and he had never seen the man sleeping.

Driven by some unknown instinct, Bunta placed his hand onto his uncle's. It felt slightly cold and, for this reason, Bunta got up from the chair so that he could take the extra cover that was at the bottom of the bed, placing it carefully on top of his uncle's upper body.

'Hey…' he then heard his uncle whisper weakly.

'Eikichi!' Bunta exclaimed then, realising he wasn't supposed to yell at an ailing old man, he bit his lower lip and said, 'I'm sorry…I didn't mean to wake you up.'

'Don't w-…' Eikichi started, only to start coughing.

'Uncle Eikichi!' Bunta exclaimed again, this time sounding rather urgent.

'Water,' he then heard the older man choke with visible difficulty. This made Bunta scan the room, finding what he was looking for pretty quickly. He ran towards the small sink the room came equipped with and, grabbing the only glass that there was, he half filled it with water and brought it to his uncle who only took a couple of sips from it.

'Better?' Bunta asked.

'Yeah,' Eikichi replied still using a horribly feeble tone of voice. Bunta decided just then that he would do anything in his power to make his uncle get back to normal, 'what happened to me?' he heard the older man ask.

'You had an angina or…whatever it's called…'

Eikichi raised his eyebrows while he stared at his nephew, finding it obviously difficult to believe him.

'No way,' he in fact said.

'Uncle Eikichi, trust me, I've never been anymore serious.'

The older man lowered his eyes and gazed at nothing in particular for a few instants before glancing back at Bunta who, in exchange, tried to do his best to hide just how very scared he really was. He clearly failed at that for Eikichi's eyebrows creased to form a concerned frown:

'Hey,' he said, 'I'm going to be alright…this is nothing.'

'Eikichi…'

'Bunta,' the older man insisted, 'I'm not going to die, okay?'

The teenager was so astounded by his uncle's words that he could not help but to widen his eyes for the tiniest of moments before closing them back to their usual, quasi-squinting selves then, doing his best to sound as carefree as possible, he said:

'I know you're not.'

'Good,' Eikichi commented, 'now, can you go and get a doctor so I can leave this place?'

'I don't think they're going to allow you to do that,' Bunta replied.

'Why not?' Eikichi asked.

'The doctor told me they want to keep you here for a few days in case.'

'A few days?' Eikichi exclaimed, getting up to a sitting position, sounding so agitated that Bunta started feeling rather panicky, fearing his uncle would relapse unless he did something to help him calm down.

'Eikichi…' he started.

'They're nuts,' the older man said, 'there's no way I can stay here tonight, let alone a few days!'

'Eikichi,' Bunta tried again, this time placing his hand onto one of his uncle's broad shoulders, hoping that this would help him relax, 'you've almost had a heart attack. I think you really need to rest.'

'But I can't,' Eikichi repeated stubbornly, 'who's going to make the tofu tonight?'

'I will,' Bunta said, 'you've shown me how to do it a million times. I'm sure I can do it by myself with no problems.'

'But…'

'Uncle, you've got my word, I'll take care of everything at the shop if you promise me you'll take care of yourself.'

Eikichi looked at him for a while, probably pondering whether his nephew was actually ready to handle the tofu making all by himself then, deciding he could trust Bunta, he nodded once and said:

'Fine, you do the tofu tonight but I'll take care of it tomorrow.'

'No,' Bunta replied, 'the doctor said they need to keep you here a few days, remember?'

'But…'

'Eikichi, please,' Bunta interrupted him, 'do it for me, okay?'

'That's not fair,' Eikichi said shaking his head, 'that's blackmail you're using here.'

'So what if it is?' Bunta asked him cheekily, 'as long as it works.'

'That's a good point,' Eikichi replied then, taking a deep breath, and finally allowing himself to collapse back onto the pillow, he said, 'bloody kid, you're as stubborn as your father.'

Bunta just let out an amused chuckle.

'By the way,' Eikichi added, 'what happened to the car? I didn't crash it now, did I?'

'I don't know,' Bunta replied, suddenly realising that, among all the very troubled thoughts which had invaded his brain ever since finding out about his uncle's hospitalisation, he had not even thought of the state of his beloved Toyota 2000GT. That, if anything, told him something he had known for quite a while: he loved his uncle nearly as much as he had loved his own father.

'Well,' Eikichi said, 'I hope I haven't for that would ruin the surprise I have prepared for your graduation.'

'A surprise?' Bunta asked.

'Yeah,' Eikichi replied, 'I'm sure you're going to love it.'

'Oh crap…'

'What's wrong?' Eikichi asked, 'you don't even know what the surprise is!' he complained almost childishly.

'No,' Bunta said, 'that's not it. It's just that the graduation ceremony is next week and…'

'I'll be there,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'there's no way on earth I'll miss it. No matter what any freaking doctor says, I won't miss my only nephew's graduation day and that's a promise. Hey, I even bought myself one of those smart Western style suits.'

'You have?' Bunta asked.

'Yeah,' Eikichi replied, 'it was stupidly expensive but, hey, it's a once in a lifetime thing so…' he stopped speaking seeing the amused expression which had appeared on his nephew's face, 'what's so funny?'

'Nothing,' Bunta said training his features to display a more serious look, 'it's just that I can't picture you wearing a suit.'

'Why not?' Eikichi asked, 'I'll have you to know that I used to be quite smart back in my days. I even wore ties every now and then…'

'Alright,' Bunta said putting both of his hands up in surrender, 'I'll take your word for it.'

Eikichi was going to add something else when a knock made both Fujiwaras look at the door. Bunta then walked towards it and, opening it, he saw the same bespectacled young doctor from earlier on.

'I see you're awake, Fujiwara-san,' he said.

'I am,' Eikichi replied, 'so, can I go home now?'

Both Bunta and the doctor threw him such admonishing glares that Eikichi frowned and said:

'Hey, I was just kidding.'

The doctor, clearly failing to see the humour of the so-called joke, just exchanged an incredulous glance with Bunta before making his way to the bed where he started checking the patient's blood pressure and the readings of the other vital signs.

'Fujiwara-san,' he said, 'I don't know if your nephew has already told you about this but I have every intention of keeping you here for a few days.'

'Yes, he has,' Eikichi replied, being careful to express just how much in disagreement he was about this whole affair.

'You've just suffered the mildest form of a heart attack but, that doesn't mean you can't have one,' the doctor continued, choosing to ignore his patient's rather rude tone of voice, 'this means that we'll have to start taking some measures so it doesn't happen.'

'What do you mean by that?'

'Well, to start with, you'll have to slow things down, remove alcohol, coffee and cigarettes if you do any of those three and…'

'Wait,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I have to quit smoking?'

'Yes,' the doctor replied, 'most definitely so. Also, you'll need to keep a much more relaxed life, avoiding strong emotions and…'

'What the heck,' Eikichi cut him again, 'why don't you just shoot me while you're at it?'

Once again, Bunta glared at his uncle briefly before looking at the doctor apologetically.

'We'll do everything you tell us,' he said to the physician, 'you've got my word.'

Eikichi just let out a very angry sounding hiss before he crossed his arms onto his chest, forgetting he currently had an IV needle stuck onto the back of his forearm.

'Ouch,' he protested, 'this is why I hate these places.'

At the end of the visiting hours, Bunta felt almost sorry for whoever had to deal with his uncle for, he knew, the old man would simply give hell to anyone who dared to try and take care of him. In any case, for Bunta it was such a huge relief seeing his uncle so active for that meant that he was probably healthy enough that he couldn't help but to smile.

'Hey,' he heard Yuuichi say the minute he finally got back to the waiting room. There, together with his best friend, to his utmost shock, Bunta saw that Masashi and Nitta-san were still there, along with Fuka and Izumi.

'We came as soon as we heard,' the girl said.

'How's your uncle?' Nitta-san asked him.

'He's not too bad, considering everything,' Bunta replied, 'like I thought, he's hating having to stay here but, I've promised I'll take care of the shop so he can take things easy.'

'We'll help you with that,' Fuka said then, looking over to Yuuichi, she said, 'we will, won't we?'

'Guys…' Bunta started.

'Of course we will,' Yuuichi interrupted him.

'Just tell us what to do,' Masashi intervened, 'anything you need done, it'll be done.'

Bunta couldn't help but to feel overwhelmed with such a sudden and genuine offer to help him and, hoping no one would realise he was getting pretty emotional, he masked it all with one of his confident smirks.

'Hey,' he said, 'just how many people do you think are needed to make the tofu?'

Everyone glanced at each other, as though as they were all waiting for one of them to reply. Since no one really knew the answer, they all chose to remain silent.

'I'll just need one or two people tops,' Bunta said, 'if any at all.'

'Alright,' Fuka then said, 'Yuuichi and I will help you tonight.'

'And we'll help you tomorrow night,' Masashi said while Izumi nodded his agreement then, before Nitta-san could open his mouth to speak, Bunta said:

'That's more than enough, Nitta-san. However, I'm kind of hoping you'll let me skip work for a few days.'

'Of course,' the manager said, 'as if you need to ask!'

About an hour later, Yuuichi parked his Mazda immediately behind his schoolmate's Toyota. Bunta had learned from his best friend that Nitta-san had ordered to one of his mechanics to pick the car up from Mt Akina and drive it all the way to the tofu shop.

'Oh, thank goodness: it doesn't seem like it's damaged!' Yuuichi exclaimed climbing out of his car.

'Of course it's not,' Bunta said sounding rather defensive, 'there's no way my uncle would crash a car, not even if he had had a real heart attack.'

'I wasn't talking about your uncle silly,' Yuuichi said, 'I was terrified at the idea of having some stranger driving this car. I mean…'

'Guys,' Fuka interrupted him, 'shouldn't we start making the tofu?'

Both Bunta and Yuuichi nodded and, soon enough, all three of them were into the shop, with Bunta busy explaining to Yuuichi how to operate the machine which condensed the soy milk to form the paste which would be used to make the tofu.

Meanwhile, Fuka busied herself in the house's tiny kitchen making something to eat so that they could eat their supper while they worked.

'So, I keep stirring it like this, right?' Yuuichi asked Bunta.

'Yes,' he replied, 'don't do it too fast or it won't come out right.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi replied.

Bunta observed his friend for a short while before he went to the back of the shop where he started washing the wooden boxes where the tofu would be kept once it was made. He was about to put them down onto the surface where they would dry when he saw Fuka's black purse on top of it.

Holding the box with his right hand, he went to move it out of the way with his left one and, probably because his hand was soaked with water, the small leather handbag slipped out of his grasp, falling onto the floor, spilling all of its contents onto it.

'Shit,' Bunta whispered, so low that Yuuichi didn't even hear him.

Leaving the box onto the worktop, he crouched next to the handbag and started putting back in the numerous items which had fallen out of it then, for some strange reason, his eyes fell onto a folded up piece of paper which contained what looked like a train ticket inside.

'Hey Bunta…' he heard Yuuichi say.

Bunta decided to put the paper back into the purse but did so in such haste that the train ticket fell from inside it. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he went to pick the ticket up to put it where it belonged and it was just coincidence that the thing had fallen with the written part facing up.

'What the…' he muttered.

Looking at the ticket with more attention, he saw something which made his blood freeze in his veins: it was a one-way ticket for Osaka and it was dated for the Thursday of the following week. Hearing Yuuichi's steps coming towards him, made Bunta stuff everything back into the handbag and, while he was getting up from his crouching position, he heard Yuuichi say:

'Bunta, what are you doing?'

'Nothing,' he hurried a tad too much to reply, 'I dropped Fuka's bag and everything fell onto the floor,' he explained then, seeing that Yuuichi was staring at him in a very weird way, Bunta smirked and said, 'don't tell her I've touched her things or she'll get mad…'

'Don't worry, I won't tell her,' Yuuichi replied, his expression thankfully going back to his usual cheerful one, 'you better come and help me, I think I've been stirring for too long.'

Bunta left Fuka's bag on top of a nearby table and, following Yuuichi towards the machine, he started thinking of all sorts of possible reasons why his best friend's girlfriend would need to travel so far down south. He also wondered whether Yuuichi knew about this trip but, judging by his carefree expression, Bunta had some serious doubts about it.

In any case, he could only find out by asking Fuka and that was exactly what Bunta would do the minute he got a chance.

_To be continued…_


	36. Chapter Thirty Five

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty Five_

The first chance to speak to Fuka without Yuuichi being there presented itself to Bunta after he and his best friend came back from the usual tofu delivery run for, not even waiting for Bunta to stop his uncle's Bellett, Yuuichi literally jumped out of the car and started running towards the shop's small bathroom.

'Baby…' Fuka started while trying to catch the attention of her boyfriend as he dashed past her. 'What happened to him?' she then added looking at Bunta who was getting out of the car after having parked it at its spot in the small drive way.

'No idea,' Bunta replied shrugging his shoulders.

'Yeah, right,' Fuka laughed, 'honestly Bunta, you'd think he'd be used to it by now.'

'Obviously not,' Bunta commented, finally allowing himself to smile in a rather mischievous way then, remembering that he needed to talk to Fuka about that train ticket, he got serious again and, lowering the tone of his voice, he said, 'listen, can you help me getting the empty boxes out of the car?

'Sure,' Fuka replied frowning almost imperceptibly.

Using up the chance given by the fact that they were both busy piling up the wooden containers and that they were pretty close to each other, Bunta stared at Fuka's face with the utmost attention so that he could observe the reaction his following question would cause to her:

'So,' he said, 'why are you going to Osaka?'

Fuka dropped the box she had in her hands and then, like in slow motion, she turned her head to look at Bunta who was now standing right next to her with his arms crossed onto his chest.

'Fuka…'

'You can't tell him,' she said.

'Fuka…'

'Seriously,' the girl continued, 'if you do he'll freak out.'

'Well, you're freaking ME out,' Bunta commented frowning in concern, 'what's going on?'

'My aunt is very ill and…'

'What?'

'Let me finish,' Fuka commanded him 'my aunt is very ill and someone needs to go and help her.'

'So you've got to go there,' Bunta asserted rather than ask.

'She lives there,' Fuka explained nonetheless, 'and since she lives by herself, my father has asked me to go and stay with her for a while. At least until she gets better.'

At this point Bunta didn't know what to do nor say. All he was able to do was to think of Yuuichi who was probably throwing up all of what they had eaten for dinner. He also remembered how he'd felt when Seiko had left him and he knew that he hadn't loved her anywhere near as much as he knew Yuuichi loved Fuka.

'Bunta…'

'Fuka, you need to tell him,' Bunta said.

'No, not yet,' she insisted, 'he needs to focus on the graduation ceremony and…'

'Bullshit!' Bunta exclaimed, 'how do you think he'll feel if you don't tell him you're leaving?'

'I…'

'What is this?' Bunta carried on, 'some sort of tradition among the girls from Shibukawa?'

'W-what?'

'First Seiko, now you.'

'Bunta, that's…'

'What are you going to say?' Bunta attacked her, 'are you going to say that it's not true?'

'No,' Fuka, on the verge of crying, said, 'I was going to say that that's not fair.'

Bunta simply could not believe it.

'Fair?' he asked sounding as sarcastic and upset as he felt, 'don't you tell me that it's not fair! How do you think Yuuichi is going to feel? Have you ever thought that he may have plans for you two now that he's finally graduating?'

'W-what?' Fuka repeated and, her expression made Bunta realise what he'd, unwillingly, had just revealed. 'Did…has he…' she stuttered.

'Er…'

Bunta never finished the sentence for, right at that instant a greenish looking Yuuichi stepped out of the shop wiping his mouth with the small white towel Eikichi always kept in the tiny bathroom at the back of his working area.

'Hey,' Fuka said as she hurried towards him, 'how are you feeling?'

'Crap,' Yuuichi replied weakly then, glaring at Bunta, he added, 'you're mental, did you know that?'

'Oh come on,' Bunta protested, 'I didn't even push it…besides, you should be used to it by now.'

Yuuichi stared at him for a bit before shaking his head and, despite the fact that he had every reason to be mad at his best friend, he couldn't help but to curve his lips into a small smile and say:

'You know I'll never get used to your driving, no matter how long it'll be.'

Bunta wanted to return the smile but he remembered what Fuka had just told him. He then stole a quick glance at her and he saw an expression on her face which clearly begged him to be quiet, that made him frown while he debated the issue with himself, ultimately deciding to let go of the whole thing, at least for the time being.

'So,' an oblivious Yuuichi said, 'what are we doing next?'

'What do you mean by 'we'?' Bunta asked him.

'Well,' Yuuichi replied, 'I'm sure there must be something else which needs to be done.'

Bunta shook his head and, putting a hand onto Yuuichi's shoulder, he said:

'You two need to go back home, I'll take care of the rest of it.'

'No way,' Yuuichi said, 'we're staying with you till the morning.'

'It is the morning,' Bunta pointed out, 'it's nearly five in the morning so, go home and get some sleep and…'

Yuuichi shook his head again and, taking Fuka's hand in his, he glanced at her and, seeing that she was, as usual, standing by whatever he said, he looked back at Bunta and said:

'We're staying.'

Bunta, faced with the very determined expressions sported by the couple, realised that there would be no way to convince his best friend to leave him alone so, at the end, the two friends ended up sharing Bunta's bedroom while Fuka slept on a spare futon in Eikichi's room.

That arrangement lasted for almost a whole week, till the day Bunta's uncle was finally released from the hospital the day before the graduation ceremony and, except for when they had to go to school or work, the couple never left Bunta alone. It was also with Yuuichi and Fuka that Bunta went to pick his uncle up on a sunny Wednesday afternoon.

'What's this smell?' Eikichi asked as he stepped into the small living room at the Fujiwara's home.

'It's air freshener,' a smiling Fuka replied, 'it's white musk scented and…'

'Air freshener?' Eikichi asked her frowning, 'air freshener in MY house?'

'Er…I…'

'She's been doing some cleaning,' Yuuichi started, doing his best to defend his girlfriend.

'Cleaning?' Eikichi asked, this time looking rather incredulous.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'they've been helping me with the tofu too.'

'Have they?' Eikichi asked then, seeing the nods coming from the three youngsters in front of him, he let out a chuckle and said, 'alright…I see. You know, I don't think this house has smelled like this ever since my mother passed away.'

'Fujiwara-san,' a very worried looking Fuka said, 'I really hope you don't mind.'

'No, no,' Eikichi replied, 'I quite like it. Air freshener you said...'

'Yes sir,' the girl replied.

'See?' Eikichi continued giving the impression to both the girl and the two young men that he was now talking to himself, 'this is what happens when there's a woman in the house.'

All three of them watched as the old man walked up the stairs on his way to his bedroom, with Bunta feeling his heart cringe seeing how slowly his uncle seemed to move. Despite all of his protests, Eikichi did appear a lot frailer than before the angina episode…

'What the…' they heard him exclaim.

'That must be the new curtains,' Fuka commented biting her lower lip in a very cute way. Both Bunta and Yuuichi chuckled trying to imagine the older man's face when seeing the set of cream coloured curtains Fuka had insisted on getting for Eikichi's bedroom.

That same night, Bunta and his uncle were sitting at the table on their own for Yuuichi and Fuka had finally decided to leave them alone. Instead, Bunta knew that the couple was going to go to the cinema to watch some new American movie which had just been released.

'You should have gone with them,' Eikichi commented while picking on his steamed salmon.

'No,' Bunta replied, 'you just got back home and, besides, I've been the third wheel for those two long enough already.'

'You should be grateful,' Eikichi pointed out, 'it's not so often that one has such great friends. You should treasure them.'

'I know,' Bunta admitted, 'is just that being with them while they're in full love-love mode can get rather annoying after a while…'

Eikichi stared at his nephew for a short while before going back to pick on his food, using the brand new pair of dark chopsticks Fuka had bought for him as a welcome home present. The two of them ate in silence until, just as they were about to finish, Eikichi cleared his throat and said:

'I've been meaning to ask you something.'

'Uh-uh?' Bunta replied distractedly while he tried to decide what to do after dinner. He'd probably go for a drive down Mt Akina and…

'When are you going to get yourself another girlfriend?' Eikichi asked him and it was a miracle which prevented Bunta from choking himself with the rice he was finishing off.

'Pardon me?' he somehow managed to ask.

'Seiko-chan left a long time ago and I think it's…'

'Eikichi,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I've told you already, I'm not interested in getting a girlfriend right now. I need to focus on my career, don't I?'

'If you say so,' Eikichi replied looking very much unconvinced, 'if you ask me, you're only using that as an excuse.'

'I am not!' Bunta exclaimed, 'besides, girls are too much trouble.'

Ignoring his uncle's soft laugh, he proceeded to explain to his uncle about what had gone on with Fuka and Yuuichi in the past few days, including the fact that Fuka was about to leave to Osaka and that Yuuichi still didn't know anything about it.

'I don't know why I haven't told him yet,' Bunta commented.

'I wouldn't do it,' Eikichi said, 'if life has taught me anything is to stay out of any couple's business. Getting in their way can only cause you grief. You of all people should understand this very well.'

Bunta turned sharply to stare at his uncle who appeared unusually serious. Not that he was shocked to hear this but, it had been a while since Eikichi had gone anywhere near the subject of the reason why he and his younger brother, Bunta's father, had stopped speaking to each other.

'I know,' he finally said, 'it's just that I feel I have to warn Yuuichi.'

'No you don't,' Eikichi insisted, 'you've got to let Fuka-chan handle all of this the way she sees fit and Yuuichi-kun will have to decide what he wants to do by himself. All you can do is to be there in case he needs you, the same way he's been there when you've needed him.'

As usual, his uncle's line of reasoning was pretty much flawless and, by the time the two Fujiwaras finished their meal, Bunta had made his mind up to do his best to ignore the whole thing. After clearing up, he walked to the small piece of furniture at the living room so that he could retrieve the 2000GT's keys.

'Are you going out?' Eikichi asked him.

'Er…I just...' Bunta started then, realising that it probably wasn't a good idea to leave his uncle by himself, he placed the keys back onto the hook where they were usually hanged and said, 'no, I…'

'Hey,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I don't mind if you do, I was just asking.'

'No, no,' Bunta insisted, 'I'd rather stay with you. Besides, I'm planning on making the tofu tonight as well. I'm getting rather good at it, you know?'

'Really?' Eikichi asked him in a rather challenging way.

'Oh yeah,' Bunta replied very sure of himself, 'I think I'll soon be as good as you are, if not better!'

'Yeah, right,' Eikichi laughed, 'the day that happens is the day you'll beat me driving down Mt Akina.'

'That's pretty soon then,' Bunta retorted, awarding his uncle with his best smirk, the one Bunta reserved for his street racing opponents. Whereas that smirk managed to unsettle most of his rivals, it did nothing to Eikichi who just laughed even louder.

'Oh kid,' he said the second he'd calmed down enough to speak, 'you still have a long way to go.'

Bunta knew better than to take offence, instead, he just kept on smiling while he followed his uncle to the shop's working area where Eikichi started inspecting the tofu maker and the other machines he'd worked so hard to buy, noticing with pleasure that they had all been thoroughly cleaned and looked shinier than ever.

'That's Fuka-chan's doing as well, isn't it?' he asked Bunta.

'No,' Bunta replied, 'I cleaned them myself.'

Eikichi looked at his nephew approvingly and, tousling his hair in a way which made the poor Bunta feel like a five-year-old, he said:

'You know, if it weren't because you've already picked a career, I'd ask you to take over the shop. Not that I'd want you to though…making tofu is not something one chooses to do.'

'Why not?' Bunta asked him, 'you seem to be happy enough.'

'I made myself be happy about it,' Eikichi countered, 'I wouldn't want you to have to do the same.'

For lack of something better to do, Bunta just nodded while he started emptying the heavy barrels which contained the soy milk they used to make the tofu. Meanwhile, Eikichi busied himself switching on the machines and checking that they had everything they needed to prepare the tofu.

A few hours later, both Fujiwaras climbed into the Isuzu, this time with Eikichi behind the wheel for, he had insisted, he really needed to drive his car.

'Oh…it's been so long.'

Bunta remained in silence for he was more than aware that his uncle wasn't talking to him, in fact, the older man was staring at the steering wheel almost lovingly while he actually caressed the knob of the shifter. He bit his lower lip to stop himself from laughing.

Only after a couple of minutes, Eikichi moved to switch the car's engine on and, a few instants later, they finally started driving towards the road which led straight onto the base of Mt Akina's pass.

'How are you feeling?' Bunta asked him, doing his best to sound as causal as possible.

'Don't worry, I'm fine,' Eikichi replied nonetheless, 'in fact, I'm feeling now much better than how I was at the hospital. Honestly, I think people are made sicker just by being there.'

Bunta let out a soft chuckle and shook his head.

'It's good to have you back,' he said.

'It's good to be back,' Eikichi countered, 'especially since I'm looking forward to seeing your face tomorrow.'

'Tomorrow?'

'Yep,' Eikichi replied, 'it's graduation day, isn't it? I've got such a nice present for you.'

'I'm not taking the bait,' Bunta said, 'I know you want me to ask you what you got for me so you can't tell me it's a secret.'

'Oh you're no fun,' Eikichi protested, 'come on, I'll give you a clue.'

Letting out a sigh full of resignation, Bunta decided that, after all, it probably wouldn't be so bad to humour his uncle so, knowing perfectly well he'd regret it later, he asked:

'Alright, what's the clue?'

'Vroom, vroom,' Eikichi replied playfully.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'it's got to do with cars, go figure.'

'You know what?' Eikichi complained, 'it's not fun playing with someone as sarcastic as you, I think I won't tell you anything else.'

'Oh well,' Bunta said, 'I only have to wait for a few more hours.'

Eikichi let out a grunt and then, he pressed the accelerator while he took the car through a corner, making the car clear it insanely fast. Bunta wanted to laugh out loud: did his uncle seriously believe this was a punishment for him?

'Wait till we go downhill,' Eikichi commented, freaking Bunta out for, once again, it seemed as though as his uncle could read his mind. Shaking his head, he decided to pay attention to his uncle's driving, finding it as mesmerizing as usual the sheer mastery with which his uncle tackled each and every one of the sharp corners of Mt Akina's pass.

His uncle was right, Bunta thought right then, he still had a long way to go.

Half an hour later, Eikichi parked his car outside the shop and was about to climb out of the car when Bunta placed his hand onto his uncle's left arm.

'Are you sure you're alright?'

'Never better, why?' Eikichi replied.

'No reason,' Bunta said, 'it's just that I'm not sure you should be driving quite this fast yet…'

'Hey kid,' Eikichi said, 'let's not start this conversation again. I'm fine, what happened last week, well…it was something which is not going to happen again, okay?'

'But the doctor said…'

'Forget about the doctor,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I'm alright and the sooner things get back to normal, the better, okay?'

Bunta nodded and, rather reluctantly, he let go of this matter as well. Heck, he was getting rather good at ignoring things these days.

'Now, get some sleep, you'll need it.'

Not even bothering to ask him anything about the so-called surprise, Bunta went upstairs and enjoyed the fact that, for the first time in a week, he had his bedroom all to himself and, maybe because of this, he slept the three following hours so soundly he almost didn't hear the alarm clock going off.

'Hey kid,' Bunta heard his uncle shout from the other side of the door, 'wake up or you'll be late!'

Rubbing the sleep off his eyes, Bunta got up from his bed and, putting his school uniform on, for the last time ever, he walked out of the room, splashed his face with a bit of water and went downstairs so he could get some breakfast.

'Oh god,' Eikichi protested, 'is that how you're going to show up to your graduation ceremony?'

'Er…' Bunta hesitated, 'yes?'

'No,' Eikichi said, 'go and iron that uniform of yours, also, get yourself a clean shirt, that one's got a stain on the collar.'

'Uncle Eikichi…'

'And don't complain or I'll get Yuuichi-kun's girlfriend to do it for you.'

'Oh no, not that,' Bunta said and, rushing up the stairs, he showed up back into the living room ten minutes later and looking infinitely better than he'd done earlier. Eikichi then tried to put some order on his nephew's unruly hair, managing to make him look so smart that Bunta hardly recognised himself.

'See?' Eikichi said, 'if we try, you can actually look rather decent.'

After somehow making it through breakfast, Bunta followed his uncle out of the shop and, exceptionally, they decided to drive to the young man's school, using the 2000GT to do so. Bunta didn't ask his uncle but he knew that the reason behind that choice probably had to do with his graduation present and, in any case, he enjoyed immensely driving to the school and parking his beautiful car at the very busy entrance.

There, he spotted Yuuichi and his parents who were currently speaking to one of the third year teachers. Noticing the Toyota's arrival, he excused himself with his parents and hurried to meet Bunta who was now climbing out of the car.

'You had to show off even today, huh?' Yuuichi asked him feigning an annoyance he obviously didn't feel.

Bunta was about to reply to that when he noticed his uncle making a gesture to a couple of people who stood somewhere near the entrance. He almost didn't see the middle-aged, completely bald man who was now walking towards him for his attention was entirely focused onto the most gorgeous girl he'd seen in his whole life.

'Fujiwara,' the middle aged man said as he shook Eikichi's hand.

'Itachi,' Bunta heard his uncle say, 'it's so good of you to come all the way here.'

'Hey,' the middle aged man called Itachi said, 'it's not everyday I get a phone call from you. So, where's this nephew of yours?'

'Right here,' Eikichi replied putting his hand onto Bunta's shoulder.

'But of course,' Itachi commented, 'he actually looks quite a lot like you,' he added then, glancing at the stupidly beautiful girl he had next to him, he said, 'this is my daughter Midori.'

'Nice to meet you Midori-chan,' Eikichi said.

'Yeah, hi,' Bunta managed to deliver while Yuuichi had to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. Bunta thought it was very lucky for Yuuichi that Fuka wasn't there, in fact, that made him wonder whether Yuuichi had already found out about his girlfriend's imminent departure.

'Hello there,' Midori said interrupting Bunta's train of thought then, looking at her father, she said, 'so, this is the boy who's going to be racing with Takashi?'

'Yes,' Itachi replied.

'Who's Takashi?' Bunta asked.

'He's my son,' Itachi replied, 'he's into racing too and I decided to set up a team for him to compete at the Fuji Freshman Series. We've been looking for another promising racer for quite a while and when I heard from your uncle, well…you're a Fujiwara, I'm sure you'll do well.'

'Uncle…'

'Bunta,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'no decisions have been made yet, after the graduation ceremony, Itachi here will take us to a race track where you'll meet his son and do a few laps. We'll just take it from there, okay?'

'Sure,' Bunta replied.

'Great,' Itachi exclaimed happily then, looking at Eikichi, he added, 'well, why don't we leave the young ones alone, it's been such a long time since I last spoke to you that I think I deserve a few minutes of your time…'

'Alright,' Eikichi accepted then, winking briefly at Bunta, he added 'I'm sure my nephew won't have any problems keeping your lovely daughter entertained.'

Something weird happened then and, instead of getting angry as Bunta had expected, both father and daughter actually smiled at Eikichi then, taking an even more bizarre turn, Midori linked her arm around Bunta's and said:

'Oh Fujiwara-san, I'm sure your nephew will do an excellent job at it.'

Yuuichi had to do an almost super-human effort so that he wouldn't die of laughter while Bunta used every bit of his concentration to ignore the fact that he had one of Midori's breasts pressed against his left arm. His brain only managed to form one single coherent thought: this was going to be a very long day.

_To be continued…_


	37. Chapter Thirty Six

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty Six_

Detaching himself from Midori proved to be a lot harder than he had imagined and if it hadn't been because she and her father had left just before the start of the graduation ceremony, for some sort of business appointment, Bunta feared that he would have had her hanging from his arm throughout the whole morning.

So, thankfully, he found himself at the school's gym, sitting with his classmates in front of the stage where the principal was about to start his end-of-the-year traditional speech with all the relatives comfortably seated along both sides of the huge room.

'I think that Midori girl fancies you,' Yuuichi whispered to him just as the old man had started speaking.

'No, you really think so?' Bunta whispered back, managing to convey a high level of sarcasm in his tone.

'You should go out with her,' Yuuichi muttered, both ignoring Bunta's tone and looking oblivious to the fact that, not too far from there, one of their teachers had already noticed their chatter.

'No way,' Bunta replied.

'Why not?' Yuuichi insisted.

'Look,' Bunta said, still trying to keep his voice as low as possible, 'she's the daughter of who is potentially going to be my boss…'

'So?'

Yuuichi never got Bunta's reply to that question for, right at that moment, their Math teacher, a rather nasty looking old man whose glaring eyes managed to scare everyone students and fellow teachers alike, came up to them, readying himself to tell them off.

After this, both friends decided to remain silent, ignoring Miyazaki and Mitsui's chuckles and preparing their revenge against their classmates for whenever the ceremony would be over. Fifteen minutes later, Yuuichi had to get up from his chair so that he could climb the short flight of wooden stairs which led to the small podium where, placing himself in front of a mike, he started speaking.

Observing him carefully, Bunta decided that Yuuichi seemed to be reasonably calm, and that was very odd, considering that in a few hours his girlfriend would be leaving for Osaka.

'How did I do?' Yuuichi asked him the second he retook his seat and while the principal started handing the diplomas to each and every one of the third years. Bunta eyed the Math's teacher who, thankfully, looked to be busy observing the proceedings, almost as though as if the old man wanted to make sure he would lose sight of them. Bunta turned to Yuuichi to reply when he heard Miyazaki say:

'You were great: you almost made Mitsui cry.'

'I did not cry!' Mitsui protested making all three of his now ex-classmates burst out laughing.

'Anyway,' Miyazaki said looking at Bunta, 'is it true what Tachibana's told us?'

'It depends,' Bunta replied, throwing a quick glance at his best friend, 'what has he told you?'

'He said you're about to test for a racing team, a proper one,' Mitsui replied.

'Ah, that…'

'Oh my…' Mitsui started only to be interrupted, once more, by Miyazaki, who seemed to be even more hyperactive than usual.

'IT'S TRUE!' he shouted.

'Hey,' Yuuichi protested, 'I've never lied to any of you two, have I?'

'No,' Mitsui admitted, 'it's just that…'

'You've got to tell us everything!' Miyazaki interrupted him again.

'I would,' Bunta said, 'but I've got to go right after this finishes.'

'Yeah, we both have to go,' Yuuichi exclaimed happily.

'You are?' Bunta asked him, 'since when?'

'Er…' Yuuichi hesitated, 'well, I thought…I thought it was a given…I mean…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted him, 'it's not like I don't want you to come with us but, I just thought you…well…'

'I can go and celebrate this with Fuka tonight,' Yuuichi replied.

'Tonight?' Bunta asked him, looking as horribly confused as he felt, 'but…I…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi started, now giving his best friend a concerned frown, 'what's wrong with you?'

'Er…'

Bunta hesitated while trying to find a way to inform his best friend about what it was now more than obvious Yuuichi didn't know.

'Fujiwara,' Miyazaki started, 'I think the principal's just called your name.'

That saved Bunta temporarily buying him some of the precious time he needed to come up with a way to get out of that mess. One thing was clear to him: Fuka had not told Yuuichi that she was leaving.

With that very unnerving thought in his mind, Bunta almost missed a step and it was only his exceptionally fast reflexes which saved him from falling flat on his face. He then rushed to get the cylinder containing the piece of paper which freed him from his student years and started making his way back to his seat.

'Bunta,' Eikichi said, making him stop half way through where his friends were.

'Yes?' Bunta asked.

'We've got to meet up with Itachi and his daughter in about an hour,' Eikichi said, 'so don't you waste too much time celebrating with your friends, okay?'

'Don't worry, I won't,' Bunta reassured him.

'Good,' Eikichi said then, glancing at the black cylinder, he added, 'and congratulations. I'm very proud of you.'

Bunta felt the usual knot of whenever his uncle said something nice to him and, after choking a 'thanks' to him, he almost literally ran back to Yuuichi. The minute he got there, and ignoring the fact that his friend hadn't gone to pick his diploma up, he said:

'We need to talk.'

'Wait…I've got to…'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'this is important though.'

'More than my high school diploma?' Yuuichi asked him in disbelief.

'Yes,' Bunta replied and, it was probably his deadpan voice and his extremely grave expression which convinced Yuuichi to follow Bunta to one of the corners of the gym, taking the chance that everyone was busy congratulating those students who had already had their certificates given to them.

'What's wrong?' a very concerned Yuuichi asked him.

'Look,' Bunta started after clearing his throat twice, ''I'm not even sure I should be the one telling you this but…'

'Bunta…'

'Don't interrupt me,' Bunta ordered him, cutting him off for he feared that he would lack the guts he needed in order to break his friend's heart the way he was about to do, 'Fuka hasn't told you anything yet, has she?'

'Told me?' Yuuichi asked him, 'what did she need to tell me?'

He stopped himself and, as though as he was a human light bulb, his face lit up in realisation.

'Oh no…' he muttered, 'Bunta…not Fuka…you and…'

'NO!' Bunta exclaimed finally understanding that his friend had got to the wrong conclusion, 'it's not like that…'

'What is it like then?' an increasingly furious looking Yuuichi asked.

'Yuuichi,' Bunta said, realising that the only way to get out of this mess was to be as direct as possible, 'Fuka's leaving town.'

Those three words were met with a sepulchral silence which was only disturbed by the ambient noise coming from not too far from there. Seeing that made Bunta open his mouth so that he could explain things further when Yuuichi, taking a couple of steps backwards, leant onto the gym's white wall, probably feeling to weak to stand up by himself.

'Yuuichi…'

'Can you say that again?'

'She's leaving,' Bunta replied, 'she's leaving to go to her aunt's in Osaka.'

He had never hated himself more than right at that moment, seeing the pained expression on Yuuichi's usually cheerful one was proving to be even more disturbing than he had ever thought possible.

'I'm sorry…'

'When is she leaving?' Yuuichi managed to ask.

'This morning,' Bunta replied, 'she had an open ticket for today so, I guess she'll be leaving with the first train after ten.'

Yuuichi stole a quick glance at his wristwatch before saying:

'I've got less than half an hour.'

The two friends stared at each other for a few moments before Bunta's brain started, at long last, to come up with some sort of action plan. He looked across the room to see that his uncle was busy chatting with one of the teachers, probably some old friend of his…

'I'll drive you there,' he said.

'But…'

'What?' Bunta asked him.

'Your test,' Yuuichi replied, 'you're supposed to have your test this morning.'

Bunta was, once more, astounded to see just how very selfless his best friend was. He shook his head a couple of times and said:

'We're meeting Itachi-san and his daughter in an hour. I've got plenty of time to get you to the station.'

Hearing this managed to convince Yuuichi who, forgetting all about his high school diploma and about the fact that both of his parents were there and, not even bothering to check whether Bunta was following him or not, he started making his way towards the gym's large doors, pushing one of them open and startling a couple of people who were standing nearby in the process.

'Sorry…' Bunta muttered as he too dashed past them.

Five minutes later, the two friends were onboard the 2000GT on their way to Shibukawa's train station when, breaking the silence which had fallen upon them, Yuuichi said:

'I never asked you how you knew about this. Did she tell you?'

Again, Bunta chose to tell his friend the truth and, taking a couple of deep breaths, he explained to Yuuichi the way he'd found out about Fuka's imminent departure.

'I see…' Yuuichi commented letting out a very bitter sounding chuckle.

'I'm really sorry,' Bunta said.

'Yeah well,' Yuuichi said, 'it's not like I wasn't expecting for something like that to happen.'

'You were?' Bunta asked him.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi replied then, out of the corner of his left eye, Bunta saw as his best friend took something out of his pocket, 'I was going to give this to her this evening.'

Bunta stared quickly at the object which was now on top of Yuuichi's right palm and what he saw made him feel so shocked that it took him all of his driving skills to keep the car on the road.

'Yuuichi…'

'I know,' his friend said, 'I told myself numerous times that it was too early to propose but…hey, I thought that now that I have finished school…you know…we could make plans and…'

He never finished the sentence for his voice broke down into sobs as he started crying. Bunta's distress reached an all-time high and, for the first time in his life, he truly didn't know what to do. Again, he had never had to deal with a situation such as this one.

'Yuuichi,' he tired, 'come on man.'

'S-sorry,' Yuuichi sobbed, 'just ignore me, I'm being stupid.'

Despite the fact that Bunta knew that his friend was definitely not being stupid, he decided to comply with Yuuichi's order and, focusing his attention onto the road ahead of him, Bunta just drove to the station as fast as he could.

Because of that, they got there just a couple of minutes later and, parking the car at the small car park, Bunta said:

'Come on, I'm sure we'll find her'.

Yuuichi wiped his face using the sleeves of his school uniform and, probably not trusting his voice to speak; he got out of the car and stuffed the tiny black box inside the pocket where he'd kept it all this time. Once again, Bunta took charge of the situation and, going to the small station's ticket booth, he asked after the trains leaving for Osaka to a nice looking lady who was sitting behind the safety glass.

'Are you sure about this?'

'Of course I am,' the lady replied, 'the train for Takasaki left just five minutes ago.'

'But there's another one, right?' Bunta asked, now whispering so that Yuuichi could not hear him.

'Of course,' the lady replied, 'but you said your friend was going to Osaka, didn't you?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'Then she's probably onboard the one which has just left,' she explained, 'otherwise she will miss the connection with the Shinkansen.'

'I see…'

Bunta felt like his heart had just dropped onto the entrance of this stomach, settling itself there, feeling as heavy as a cold stone. Mumbling a quick 'thanks' to the lady, he turned round and, looking at Yuuichi, he said:

'Okay, let's not panic.'

'Panic?' Yuuichi asked him sarcastically, 'who is panicking? I mean, she's left.'

Ignoring him, Bunta ran to the panel which had the train's timetable on display and, running his finger across it, he found what he was looking for and, smiling triumphantly, he said:

'Let's go, we can still see her.'

'What are you talking about?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Listen,' Bunta replied, 'if we hurry up, we can catch up with her at the Takasaki station. Then you'll be able to go and look for her before she gets onto the Shinkansen.'

'Bunta…'

'Come on, we don't have time to waste arguing about this.'

'But…'

'Do you want to see her or not?' Bunta insisted.

'Er…'

'Then let's go.'

Knowing better than to try and reason with Bunta when he was this much stubborn, Yuuichi just ran after his friend, climbing back into the 2000GT just as it was starting to move. Only while Bunta stopped at the car park's exit, looking both sides for any incoming traffic, he allowed himself to talk:

'Bunta, you'll be late for your test if…'

'I know,' Bunta interrupted him, 'but I can't let you lose Fuka the way I lost Seiko. Sometimes I wonder whether I should have gone after her.'

Yuuichi stared at his friend, looking startled by the sudden and rare burst of honesty coming from him. It wasn't very common to hear Bunta use such a sincere tone of voice and it was probably that which persuaded Yuuichi to leave all the decision-making to Bunta.

'Just so you know…'

'I know,' Bunta interrupted him.

Without exchanging a further word, they got into the motorway where Bunta floored the accelerator, finally allowing the car to demonstrate the reason why it was Japan's number one sports car. At such high speed, it didn't take them too long before they got to Takasaki where, hopefully, they would find Fuka.

'There,' Yuuichi said pointing out a JR sign which indicated the Japanese Railways.

Bunta turned towards the right and, for the umpteenth time, he felt immensely grateful that there was no traffic at this time of the morning, they had probably just missed the rush hour.

At any rate, he found himself parking the 2000GT at yet another train station's car park, this time a significantly larger one and, just as they had done before, they locked the two doors up before rushing towards the station's main building.

Checking the timetable's board, they saw that the Shinkansen for Osaka was leaving in less than half an hour from the platform number four.

'Come on,' Bunta said, continuing his sprint.

The two friends spent the next five minutes looking around the platform when they heard through the station's speaker system that the train from Shibukawa was arriving at the platform number six.

'Bingo,' Yuuichi exclaimed happily, 'stay here, I'll go and see if I can spot her.'

'Okay,' Bunta replied and, only when his best friend disappeared down the stairs of the underpass which led to the other platforms, he allowed himself to look at the station's clock, 'shit,' he muttered. There was no way he would make it on time.

'Bunta!'

Hearing his name being called out made him lower his head and, just there, standing a few metres away from him and with a heavy looking suitcase with her, he saw a very confused looking Fuka staring at him.

'Thank god!' he exclaimed.

'What are you doing here?' Fuka asked him, now going from appearing confused to sport a very worried look on her pretty face, 'is Yuuichi with you?'

'What do you think?' Bunta asked her then, not giving her the time to reply, he frowned and said, 'no, let me rephrase that: you weren't thinking, obviously enough.'

'Bunta, I…'

'How could you even think of leaving without telling him?'

Fuka was saved the trouble to answer to that question by the sudden arrival of a nearly short of breath Yuuichi who, seeing her there, went from looking absurdly happy to utterly miserable within just a handful of seconds.

'Yuuichi,' Bunta stared.

'You better go,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'or you'll never make it on time.'

'Are you sure?' Bunta asked his friend.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, sounding every bit as serious as he looked.

'How are you going to go back home?'

'I'll get myself a train back home, don't worry,' Yuuichi replied and Bunta noticed then that he had never removed his gaze from his girlfriend, 'now go, please. You've done more than enough already.'

'Okay then,' Bunta replied and, casting one last quick look at the couple, he ran back to the stairs and out of the station, literally jumping into his Toyota. He had less than five minutes to cover the nearly thirty kilometres which separated him from Shibukawa.

He could do it, no, he HAD to do it.

Otherwise, his professional career would end even before it had started.

This thought made his foot step onto the accelerator so hard that, at some point, Bunta feared that it would end up making a whole onto the floor of his beloved car and, while he cruised along the motorway going over two hundred kilometres an hour, he felt infinitely grateful that they had removed the car's speed limiter.

Bunta only allowed himself to steal a glance at the small clock inset onto the 2000GT's dashboard when he saw the sign indicating the exit for Shibukawa. One minute. He had one more minute till eleven o'clock.

Letting out a rather shaky breath, he continued pushing the car to its limits even after leaving the relative safety of the motorway, entirely ignoring other cars, and common sense for that matter, as he sped across the small town where he now lived.

'Oh no,' Bunta muttered seeing a van right in front of him, going so painfully slow that it almost made him feel like crying. He was just a few blocks away from the school but, at the current speed he was going, it would take him about five more minutes to get there. 'Fuck it,' he finally said while pulling over to the side of the road, parking his car at the first free spot he saw.

Jumping out of it, he lost a few moments to lock it up and then, running as fast as he could, he decided to cover what was left of the distance on foot, arriving at the school's entrance only to find that his uncle was there, standing near it, all by himself.

'Where have you been?' Eikichi asked him looking rather upset.

'Er…'

'You're ten minutes late,' his uncle said pointing at the school's clock and using such a final tone of voice that it made Bunta fear for the worst.

_To be continued…_


	38. Chapter Thirty Seven

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty Seven_

Too late? How could that be? He was only ten minutes late, Bunta thought disconsolately as he stared at his uncle, unable to do anything other than catching his breath up while he started asking himself why on earth his uncle had done nothing to stop Itachi and his daughter from leaving.

'You're lucky they're late too,' he somehow heard Eikichi say.

'W-what?' Bunta stuttered.

'But that's not the point,' his uncle carried on, clearly refusing to repeat what he'd just said, 'Bunta just tell me something, will you?'

Seeing the disappointed expression on Eikichi's face robbed Bunta from the ability to speak so, he only managed to nod in a rather stupid way.

'Is this how you intend to behave?' the older man asked, 'because,' he then added without waiting for his nephew's answer, 'if this is any proof of it, I'd say you're not very serious about becoming a professional racer.'

'NO!' Bunta managed to exclaim, 'that's not true…I…'

'You what?' Eikichi challenged him.

'I had to help Yuuichi, he…'

Once again, the arrival of Itachi and his beautiful daughter Midori prevented Bunta from finishing what he had to say and, in a way, he actually felt grateful for it for he knew that his behaviour, whereas it was completely justified, at least from his point of view, had not been the most professional ever.

'Sorry for the delay,' Itachi said, 'we got held up at the meeting.'

'It's alright,' Eikichi replied, 'it's you who's doing us a favour so, we can't be too picky, can we?'

Itachi-san let out a short but sincere sounding laugh as he looked from Eikichi to Bunta, lingering there for a couple of seconds before glancing back at the older of the two Fujiwara.

'I'm not sure who's doing who a favour,' Itachi sentenced, 'but we'll soon find out. Shall we?'

'Sure,' Eikichi replied.

'Er…' Bunta started, 'I kind of left the car parked somewhere else.'

'Oh,' Itachi said, 'don't worry about it. You can actually leave it where it is.'

'Why?' Eikichi asked, voicing the very question Bunta himself was about to ask, 'won't he need his car for the test?'

'No,' Itachi replied, 'I think that in order to see how good he is, I'll get him to drive the car we've prepared for my son Takashi. It's a true beauty and I'm sure Bunta-kun here will love it.'

Bunta exchanged a very quick glance with his uncle who, in an almost imperceptive manner, asked his nephew to let him handle the situation and, knowing he had little choice in the matter, Bunta decided to oblige.

For this reason, the two Fujiwara found themselves following the Itachi as they made their way back to Itachi-san's car, a shiny, silver Mercedes Benz which, judging by how painfully clean it was, looked like it had just been delivered from the dealership.

'What do you think?' Itachi asked Eikichi while the two older men climbed into the front seats of the car, leaving the back one to Midori and Bunta, 'I'm told this is the first unit they've sold of this particular model in the whole of Kanto.'

'I'm not surprised,' Eikichi commented, 'it looks as expensive as it probably is.'

'Ah,' Itachi laughed, 'you know that I'm never stingy when it comes to cars. Besides, this car's engine is designed in a way that uses up the petrol in a much more efficient manner you know, if petrol keeps getting so pricey, we'll all need cars like this.'

This time, Eikichi didn't add anything to the conversation and, other than offering Itachi a half a smile, he limited himself to keeping his eyes glued to the road they had in front of them while the other man, probably taking the hint, started the car's engine, incorporating it to the incoming traffic as swiftly as he could.

'Itachi-san,' Bunta said breaking the silence which had reigned in the car for quite a few minutes, 'how come you know my uncle?'

'Ah,' Itachi replied, 'that's a long story.'

'A very long one,' Eikichi agreed, using such a tone of voice that it made Bunta understand that, for some obscure reason, he wasn't allowed to ask any more questions.

'Let's just say,' Itachi said nonetheless, 'that if I am who I am today, it's mainly because of your uncle. If it hadn't been for the loan he gave me all those years ago.'

'Itachi,' Eikichi interrupted him in a very definite manner, 'that was a long time ago and you've more than repaid the money I gave you so, let's just forget about the whole thing, alright?'

If Itachi was shocked to hear what it effectively sounded like a direct order, he did his best to hide it behind the kindest of smiles and, instead of remaining quiet, he glanced at Bunta through the rear view mirror and said:

'I'm sure you and Takashi are going to become good friends.'

The old man spent the whole trip to Maebashi talking about what a nice boy his son was and, how very proud Itachi was about the fact that Takashi, after so long going around in circles, had finally found a goal: that of becoming a professional racer.

To Bunta though, the more he heard about his potentially future team-mate, the more he grew convinced that Takashi was nothing more than a spoilt little brat whose latest caprice was to drive cars as fast as he could, not giving a damn about learning anything about them.

Bunta's mind had drifted towards his own beloved Toyota 2000GT when, all of a sudden, he was brought back to reality by a hand which, for some reason, had found its way all the way up to the upper section of his thigh and was now travelling dangerously fast towards an even less decent part of Bunta's anatomy.

'What are…' he whispered furiously while stealing a panicked glance to the two adults he had in front of him, feeling immensely relieved that the two older men were too distracted to notice what was happening less than half a meter away from them.

Instead of stopping, Midori placed her hand on the inside of Bunta's leg and, letting out a very soft, almost inaudible laugh, she looked at him and, winking at him, she mouthed 'I fancy you,' to an utterly shocked Bunta. At this stage he found that he could no longer reason…

'We're almost there,' Itachi said all of a sudden and that, thankfully or sadly, Bunta couldn't figure out which one of the two, Midori removed her hand from his leg and pulled away from him, to go and pretend she was busy staring out of her side's window, '…it's a new track but it's rather small.'

As if he cared about circuits right now.

'It won't matter if it's small,' Eikichi said, 'will it?' he then asked, turning his head round to look at his nephew.

'No,' Bunta chocked out, 'of course not.'

Midori let out a chuckle which promptly became a cough making Bunta realise that his voice sounded unnaturally strained. The cheek of this girl! He thought feeling rather incredulous that such a sweet looking girl, no matter how stupidly beautiful she was, could be quite so bold.

In any case, he almost jumped out of the car the minute Itachi parked it at the very small car park which was placed immediately next to a two kilometres strip of asphalt which looked fairly new. In fact, and like Itachi had told them, everything in these installations was pretty much brand new.

'That's Takashi there,' the old man said pointing at a rather tall guy, about ten centimetres taller than Bunta, who's hair was actually bleached and it looked now a violent shade of yellow. He was wearing a black and white racing suit with quite a few patches on it and was currently talking to a couple of guys in overalls who looked to be some sort of mechanics.

'Father,' the guy said the minute they got to where he was. He then exchanged a quick smile with his older sister before looking at Eikichi first, Bunta after, 'you're late,' Takashi commented looking down at Bunta, 'I was about to start my second stint…'

'That's my fault,' Itachi said, 'I got held up at the meeting but, don't worry, we got the sponsor.'

'Of course we did,' Takashi replied sounding arrogantly sure of himself, 'who wouldn't want to sponsor me?'

Bunta and Eikichi found themselves looking at each other and, almost for the tiniest of moments, they both felt like rolling their eyes up. However, and for the sake of maintaining peace, at least for the time being, they decided to ignore the whole thing.

'So,' Takashi said, 'are we going to test him today?'

'Yes,' Itachi replied.

'Where's your racing suit?' Takashi asked Bunta, still looking down and speaking with a high level of disdain imprinted on his voice.

'I didn't bring one,' Bunta replied, levelling up as much as he could and definitely refusing to show any trace of fear, 'I don't need a suit in order to drive fast,' he added just for good measure.

'Ah,' Midori said, intervening in the conversation before her younger brother could formulate an appropriate reply, 'boys with toys…Takashi, just let him show us what he's got, alright?'

Takashi looked at his sister and, taking a few moments to consider, he ended up smiling at her and, with a gesture of his head, he shrugged his broad shoulders and said:

'Alright Oneesan, since it's you asking...I'll go and get some rest then,' he said then, ignoring Bunta, Eikichi and the two poor mechanics who were still there, Takashi walked away from the group and towards a small light blue van.

Bunta observed as the guy opened the passenger side's door, climbed onto the seat and, closing the door with a little too much energy, Takashi showed just how very displeased of this whole situation he was. Shrugging the negative vibe he'd just got from the guy who could end up being his team mate, Bunta decided to follow his uncle and Itachi-san to the car he'd be using for the test.

'No way,' he muttered before he had time to repress his words.

'You like it?' Itachi asked him, looking from Eikichi to Bunta and back to Eikichi, 'I told you it was a true beauty, didn't I? Believe me: it's taken us ages to get it to perform well enough for the championship.'

As every time Eikichi wanted to keep his thoughts to himself, he just nodded while Bunta tried to regain some resemblance of composure for it had been a total shock to see the black and white coloured car he'd be using for the races, should he happen to pass the test, of course...

'Son,' Itachi started, 'I take you know a bit about the Nissan Skyline, right?'

'Yes, sir, I do,' Bunta replied noncommittally.

'Alright,' Itachi said, 'well, you'll be happy to know that this is a brand new model. It's the KPGC10 GT-R and it's engine…'

'I have a suggestion,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'why don't we let Bunta get to know the car by just driving it, huh?'

Itachi looked taken aback just for the briefest of moments, recovering admiringly fast before nodding a couple of times slowly then, glancing over to Bunta, he said:

'Well, you better go and get ready, Uesugi here will be happy to help you.'

One of the mechanics, a guy who didn't look much older than Bunta himself, took a couple of steps towards him and, offering him a small smile, he pointed with his head the small one floored building where the track had the changing rooms for the drivers and a storage space, probably for the karts or other racing materiel.

'You can get changed in here,' Uesugi said, 'in that locker you should find a few of Takashi-san's spare racing suits.'

'Alright,' Bunta replied. Uesugi offered him a curt not before leaving him alone and, right after that, Bunta sat down heavily onto one of the two long wooden benches that furnished the room. A Skyline. Of all the cars that Japan made, why a Nissan Skyline? If Kogashiwa found out about this he'd have a heart attack…

'Maybe I should tell him,' Bunta muttered to himself, allowing an evil smirk to curve his lips.

Reminding himself that there were people waiting for him, he slipped into the black and white suit he had been given and, putting his trainers back on, he grabbed his school uniform and stuck it badly into one of the empty lockers. It wasn't as if he'd need it ever again so it didn't matter if it got ruined.

Five minutes later, he showed up and was soon guided by Uesugi and the other more senior mechanic towards the car while Itachi and his uncle were engaged in what looked like a very important conversation. Bunta found that he was actually curious to find how his uncle had come to know someone who was clearly as nuts about cars as both Fujiwaras were. This train of thought was promptly interrupted by the sight of Midori walking towards him. Since Takashi was still locked up in the van, the girl probably had nothing better to do and that could only mean one thing…

'You look as good as I thought you'd do in a racing suit,' she said a little more than tartly.

'Thanks,' Bunta managed to reply.

'Well,' she said sticking the index fingernail of her left hand into the edge between two folds of the suit, right on top of Bunta's shoulder, 'try not to crash. I'd hate it if you hurt yourself.'

'Yeah, I wouldn't like that either,' Bunta said.

'Midori-san,' Uesugi interrupted, appearing almost afraid to go anywhere near the girl, 'I'm very sorry but…'

'I know, I know,' Midori said smiling at Uesugi in a way that made Bunta think that the mechanic would get a nose-bleed, 'I'll stay out of the way now', she added, looking highly amused by the whole thing.

Offering Bunta one last all too sweet smile, she went back to where the two adults were. Bunta looked at her back while she walked and, for some reason, he tried to decide whether to feel sorry for a girl who was clearly bored off her mind or worried about his own safety for he knew just how many problems a girl like her could cause to a guy like him.

'Hey,' Uesugi said forcing Bunta to focus on the guy, 'I'd stay away from her if I were you.'

'Yeah,' the other mechanic agreed, using a slightly harsher tone of voice that his colleague, 'Midori-san's off limits. I hope you don't get any funny ideas.'

'Of course not,' Bunta hurried to reply.

'Good,' the mechanic said, 'now, hurry up and show us the reason why Takashi-san had to give up his practice time so you could take this test.'

Bunta nodded and, climbing into the car, he decided two things: he'd definitely stay away from Midori for the girl had trouble written all over her and, unless he was very much mistaken, these two mechanics probably worshipped Takashi.

To Bunta, this meant that he had to do his best. Anything else would not be good enough.

He had to give it to Kogashiwa though, the Nissan's steering wheel felt extremely good under his hands and, for a whole minute, he just stayed there, strapped onto the seat and getting used to the differences between this car and his as quickly as he could.

Seeing Uesugi signalling him to start the car, he did so, and after inserting the first gear, Bunta made the car roll out of the parking area and into the track where, during the first two laps, he just limited himself to get familiar with the course.

At the third though, it was an entirely different thing. He had already guessed the best way to drive this particular car, finding that its engine had been so finely tuned that he could get the best out of it in an almost effortless manner.

In short, this car and he understood each other pretty well.

The track wasn't very long but the bends and the very slight slopes present would have probably made it rather challenging for anyone who hadn't had at least some degree of racing experience. Luckily for Bunta, he had had the best training yet.

Yes, compared to Mt Akina's pass, this was a walk in the park for Bunta and, at the end of the twentieth lap, when he was finally ordered to get out of the track, he met a couple of astonished mechanics and an even more surprised Itachi. Eikichi, as usual, sported the sort of blank expression which annoyed the heck out of Bunta.

'My boy you…' Itachi started saying, only to be rather rudely interrupted by his own son, making Bunta wonder when in the heck had he come out of the van and, even more importantly, why.

'Let me see that,' Takashi ordered to Uesugi, demanding to be handed the small chronographer used to keep the times. The guy checked it himself and, widening his eyes, he went to glare at Bunta and said, 'he's cheated.'

'I have not,' Bunta replied folding his arms onto his chest defensively.

'You must have,' a fuming Takashi insisted, 'there's no way you can have beaten my record.'

'Have I?' Bunta asked now sounding positively surprised.

'No,' Takashi replied, 'that's what I'm saying. There's no way you can have beaten it. It's taken me over a year to beat the previous one and, I seriously think a guy like you can…'

'Enough,' Itachi commanded, interrupting his son by saying, 'Takashi, just like I hoped, Bunta's shown he's a bit better than you. This, instead of making you angry, should make you happy.'

'Happy?' Takashi asked to his father, clearly thinking that his father was beginning to go senile, 'why should I be happy some brat's beaten my record?'

Unfazed by this insult directed to his nephew, Eikichi put a hand up to stop Itachi from answering and, looking at Takashi, he said:

'Because only when you find a worthy challenge you can work on getting better.'

'That's just…'

'Takashi,' Itachi said still smiling but using an almost warning tone of voice, 'what Fujiwara-san has said it's true. You should welcome the competition.'

Looking anything but happy, Takashi glared at Bunta once again before turning round, barking something to Midori who, without having to be ordered twice, went right after her younger brother, turning to glance at Bunta for as long as it took for her to smile apologetically.

'Don't mind him,' Itachi said to Eikichi, 'he's had a very rough week. His girlfriend has just dumped him and...'

'Don't worry, you don't need to explain yourself,' the older Fujiwara replied while Bunta chose to just remain quiet.

'Well,' Itachi started, 'I think I've seen enough for me to say this: kid, you're welcome to join the team whenever you want.'

'Really?' Bunta couldn't help but to ask.

'Yes,' Itachi said, 'I have prepared a draft version of a contract and…'

'Itachi,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'no offence or anything but, I think Bunta needs to think about this for a bit before committing himself to do something as important as this.'

'Uncle…'

'We both need time to think about it,' Eikichi carried on, ignoring Bunta's silent but very obvious protests, 'I hope you'll be kind enough to give us a couple of days before we can give you an answer.'

Itachi, again, tried his best not to look as astounded as he felt but, for some reason, he seemed to be pretty used to Eikichi's unconventional way of doing things so, maybe because of this, he nodded his agreement and said:

'Fair enough Fujiwara-san, you always seem to know what's best so, I'll trust you with this one too.'

'Thanks for this,' Eikichi replied.

'Alright,' Itachi said, 'well, I think I should drive you two back home now.'

'Nah,' Eikichi interrupted him again, 'I've been told by the doctors that I need a bit of exercise so, I think we'll walk to the train station. If I'm not mistaken, there should be one not too far from here.'

'Yes,' Itachi said, 'Maebashi North is just about four kilometres from here.'

'Good,' Eikichi replied then, looking at Bunta, he added, 'now, go and get changed so we can go home.'

Bunta, as he usually did when his uncle was like this, found himself obeying the older man's orders and although he didn't understand half of what was happening right at that moment, Bunta decided that four kilometres were a long enough distance for him to ask every single one of the questions which were beginning to form a whirl in his increasingly confused mind.

_To be continued…_


	39. Chapter Thirty Eight

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty Eight_

Albeit very reluctantly at first, Bunta followed his uncle out of the small circuit and began walking down the footpath of the wide road which led to the train station, trying to come out with a way to start a conversation which, he knew, would be a very difficult one when, all of a sudden, Eikichi turned his head towards him and said:

'So, what kept you earlier on?' Bunta's face probably reflected the confusion he felt for his uncle looked a bit impatient for a couple of seconds before adding, 'you said you were late because of something that had happened to Yuuichi.'

'Ah, that,' Bunta finally said.

'Yeah,' Eikichi replied, 'what happened?' he asked again.

'Er…'

'I see,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'you probably don't want to discuss this with me.'

'No,' Bunta said, 'that's not it,' he added, 'the thing is, his girlfriend's gone to Osaka but she hadn't told Yuuichi so I had to take him to the station in order for him to be able to say his goodbyes to her.'

After this, the two Fujiwaras spent a few moments walking in silence when Bunta, before Eikichi could even open his mouth to speak, stopped right where he was and asked:

'Why didn't you allow me to sign the contract?'

Eikichi, copying his nephew, also stopped walking and then he turned round very slowly so that he'd be face to face with Bunta.

'If you need to ask me this question,' he started, 'then it's obvious I've overestimated your intelligence.'

'W-wha…'

'Bunta,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I think you've noticed that Itachi's son wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea of having you in the team.'

'Yeah, I noticed that,' Bunta agreed with a sarcastic scowl appearing on his face.

'That's good to hear,' Eikichi said, 'in that case, I hope I don't need to tell you just how very stressful being a professional racer is.'

'No, you don't,' Bunta replied, biting his lower lip to stop himself from pointing out that Eikichi had never been a professional racer before.

'Well,' Eikichi continued, 'if being a pro is stressful per se, can you even imagine how it's going to be like if you and your team mate have a less than friendly relationship?'

'Yeah, I can,' Bunta replied, 'I'm not forgetting that he is the son of the team's owner either.'

Eikichi stared at him for a few seconds and Bunta had the pleasure of seeing that his uncle's face went from almost angry to looking rather proud. This made Bunta decide against telling his uncle the only thing that actually made him feel a bit unnerved.

Midori.

Yeah, that girl was trouble. Bunta had figured that out very quickly and, whereas he thought he knew how to handle a spoilt little brat like Takashi, he had no idea what to do when a girl, no, a woman as beautiful as Midori did something like what she'd done to him in the car ride to the circuit.

'Bunta?' he heard his uncle's voice say, taking him out of his reverie.

'Yes?'

'I said we should get going,' Eikichi replied, 'I'm thinking of giving Itachi a call whenever we get back home.'

'Alright,' Bunta agreed quickly and felt very grateful that his uncle reassumed his walk to the station for that gave him the precious few instants he needed to regain his composure. Once he did, he looked at his uncle and said, 'there's one thing that's kind of bothering me though.'

'What is it?' Eikichi asked.

'The car,' Bunta replied, 'that Nissan is good enough but, I kind of thought I'd be driving my own car.'

'I know,' Eikichi said, 'to be honest, it caught me unprepared too. I was under the impression that Itachi would ask you to provide your own car and, from what I've gathered during our conversation, he's planning on buying a brand new car for his son.'

'I guess he can afford to now that he's got that sponsor,' Bunta observed.

'Yeah,' Eikichi agreed, 'well, it's not so bad if you get to drive a different car. It'll give you more experience and, even if I haven't inspected the car personally, I'd say that Nissan is one heck of a car.'

'It is,' Bunta said, 'it'll take me a while to get used to the different gear ratios and, the seat is a tad higher than the one in the 2000GT but, I guess that, with time, it will all feel normal.'

'It will,' Eikichi said, 'you got used to my Bellett and, I know just how awkward my car can be.'

'Awkward?' Bunta asked him in disbelief, 'that car's a nightmare!' he then exclaimed, laughing softly at the amused expression which appeared on his uncle's face, 'compared to the Bellett, my 2000GT is a joy!'

The two of them got quickly engaged in a discussion with both defending their most precious possessions and it wasn't until they found themselves in front of the ticket booth at the station that they stopped talking.

'Two tickets to Shibukawa please,' Eikichi asked the nice looking lady behind the glass.

Bunta then followed his uncle to the platform number three where the two of them took a seat while they waited for the train to arrive.

'Eikichi,' he said, 'I've been meaning to ask you something.'

'I'm feeling alright,' Eikichi replied, as usual guessing the question before it had even been formulated, 'I just feel a bit more tired than usual but, other than that, I'm fine. Trust me.'

'I trust you,' Bunta assured him, 'it's just that…'

'Hey,' Eikichi stopped him, also raising his hand for good measure, 'I already told you at the hospital. I'm not going to die just yet, okay?'

The younger Fujiwara looked at his uncle for a few instants before moving his head up and down in a very insecure nod.

'I'm serious,' Eikichi insisted, 'I know you're afraid of being left alone but, I won't do that to you, I promise.'

'Eikichi, you can't promise me that,' Bunta protested.

'I can,' Eikichi said, 'look, I'm even going to quit smoking. And I'll be careful with what I eat from now on and, listen, I'll even leave the Bellett behind and go on foot so I get some exercise, okay?'

'Yeah, right,' Bunta snorted, 'quitting smoking, maybe, eating properly, probably so but, you not driving the Bellett at the smallest chance you get? I'm just not buying it.'

Eikichi let out a soft chuckle and said:

'Alright I'll probably not do all that much walking but hey, it's still two things out of three.'

Bunta laughed with his uncle and, before he had the time to come up with something else to say, they saw the small regional train coming into the station, its noise covering anything which Bunta may have tried to say. It didn't matter though for, as soon as they got onboard the train, Eikichi fell asleep on his seat, leaving Bunta with no option but to look out of the window.

His uncle could say whatever he wanted but, Bunta knew that after the angina, his uncle's health would never be the same again and, for this reason, he also knew that the sooner he started making money, the better it would be for the two of them.

Maybe, if he really made it big in his racing career, Bunta would even ask his uncle to close down the tofu shop for he would be able to take care of Eikichi, as a repayment for all these months his uncle had been housing and feeding him.

Stealing a quick glance at Eikichi's sleeping face, Bunta thought he could count himself lucky to have such a smart man looking out for him and for this reason, he vowed to himself he'd do the impossible in order to make him proud. Even if it meant coping with Midori's less than subtle advances.

By the time the two Fujiwaras got home, after having gone to pick up the 2000GT from where Bunta had left it parked, the teenager went to get the phone so he could call his best friend while Eikichi busied himself making some food for their very late lunch.

'Hello?' a lady's voice, that of Yuuichi's mum, answered the phone.

'Hi, this is Fujiwara Bunta, may I speak to Yuuichi, please?'

'Oh,' Yuuichi's mum replied, 'he's not home sweetie. He hasn't come back from school yet.'

'Is he at work?' Bunta then asked.

'No,' the middle-aged woman replied, 'as a matter of fact, we thought he was with you.'

'Ah,' Bunta gasped then, producing an amazingly fast recovery, he added, 'ah, well, we're going to meet up later so, he's probably just taking his car for a spin or something.'

'Well,' Yuuichi's mum said, 'if you do see him, please tell him that we'll be having sushi for dinner. We'll be celebrating his graduation and, of course, if you aren't doing anything else, you're free to join us.'

'Oh wow,' Bunta half-whispered, 'that's very kind of you but, I think my uncle and I will be celebrating my graduation too.'

'Of course honey,' the lady said with a chuckle, 'I almost forgot you had graduated too!'

Bunta was only too happy when he finally managed to cut the conversation short and, hanging the phone up, he turn round and found himself with his uncle staring at him in an very inquisitive manner.

'What's going on?' Eikichi asked.

'I'm not sure,' Bunta replied, 'listen, I'm quite hungry and all but, I think it's better if I try and find Yuuichi.'

Eikichi looked at him for short moment before nodding once.

'Go,' he said.

'Alright,' Bunta replied, 'I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?'

'Don't worry,' Eikichi said waving a hand dismissingly, 'I'll keep the food in the oven for whenever you come back.'

'Alright,' Bunta nodded, suddenly remembering the sushi dinner the Tachibana's would be enjoying. That thought made him feel even hungrier and, for this reason, he ran into the kitchen, grabbed a freshly peeled carrot and, gnawing it, he grabbed the keys of his car and crossed the living room all the while Eikichi just had fun observing the whole scene.

'I'll give Itachi-san a call now to tell him about our decision,' he then said as Bunta slid his feet inside his shoes, holding the carrot with his teeth so that he could do the laces up. Because of this, he could only nod at his uncle, swaying the carrot up and down, making Eikichi laugh in the process.

'I'm off,' Bunta finally managed to say, getting up and finishing what he had left of the vegetable so that he would get rid of it. He then closed the distance which separated him from the door, walked out of the shop and towards the Toyota. Climbing into it, Bunta started thinking of possible places where Yuuichi could have gone at this time of the late afternoon.

Mt Akina's pass was on top of his list and that was where Bunta would check first, only goodness knew what had happened between Yuuichi and Fuka when he'd left the couple at the train station and…

'No,' Bunta said shaking his head as he turned the engine on. Yuuichi was a very sensible guy, he wouldn't do anything harsh or drastic, Bunta thought determinately while he drove out of the small street where he and his uncle lived.

Despite this, he decided to add a little bit of extra pressure to the accelerator pedal so that he would get to the pass as quickly as possible and, in the end, it didn't take much for him to reach the bottom of the infamous road.

'What the…' he muttered to himself when, right there, at the small car park situated at the base of the mountain, he saw Yuuichi's Mazda with a couple of very familiar looking cars, one of them being the dark red Nissan belonging to the Akina Firebolts leader, Masashi Suzuki. The other car was Yamada's, Masashi's best friend.

All three of them were laughing at something Yuuichi had just said but stopped when, noticing Bunta's 2000GT, they walked towards the car while Bunta parked it next to Yuuichi's Capella.

'So,' Yuuichi said, 'how did the test go?'

Bunta stared at his friend in disbelief while he climbed out of his car, not even bothering with locking it up.

'You didn't crash the car,' Masashi commented observing the Toyota with the utmost attention, 'that's usually a good sign…'

'Yeah,' Yamada agreed, 'so, you've got to tell us everything!'

'Just wait a minute,' Bunta finally exclaimed, 'what in the heck are you talking about?'

'Your test silly,' Masashi said, 'Yuuichi told us you had a test for some racing team.'

'He did?' Bunta asked, now staring at his best friend accusingly. Yuuichi, limited himself with giving a very innocent looking grin which, unfortunately, just made him look even guiltier, 'here I was worrying about you,' Bunta added now frowning.

'About me?' Yuuichi asked.

'Yes,' Bunta replied dryly, 'I almost was late for the test, do you want me to remind you the reason why?'

'Er…'

'If you're talking about his latest girl-related drama,' Masashi started, only to be interrupted by Yuuichi who, making a gesture with his hand made him stop talking.

'Masashi-san,' Yuuichi said, 'if you don't mind, I'd like to tell him myself.'

'You better bloody do,' Bunta almost barked, 'because if someone doesn't tell me what's going on…'

'Hey,' Yuuichi hurried to say putting both of his hands up and looking fairly frightened, 'I'll tell you, I'll tell you.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'I'm all ears,' he then added crossing his arms onto his chest.

'So,' Yuuichi started, now smiling widely, 'when you left us, Fuka and I talked about what was going to happen now that she had to go away and…'

'Can you just tell him?' Yamada asked Yuuichi sounding rather impatient.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'don't interrupt him or it'll take even longer.'

'Sorry,' Yamada apologised.

'As I was saying,' Yuuichi continued after glaring at Yamada for the tiniest of moments, 'Fuka told me that she didn't want to tell me she was leaving because she couldn't face it and, because she knew that she wouldn't be strong enough to go if…well…anyway, I gave her the box I showed you earlier this morning…'

'And?' Bunta asked.

'And we're engaged now,' Yuuichi replied.

It took Bunta quite a few seconds to gather up all the bits of information and, only when he noticed that Yuuichi and Masashi and Yamada were looking at him oddly, he reacted and said:

'Wow, that was fast.'

'There wasn't that much time,' Yuuichi justified himself, 'the train she was due to catch was about to leave and…'

'That's not what I meant,' Bunta said, 'I mean…well…in any case, how are you two going to do now that she's in Osaka?'

'I'm not worried about that,' Yuuichi explained, 'like I told her, she's only there temporarily. As soon as she comes back, I'm hoping I'll have been able to save enough money for us to get married and maybe rent a house or something.'

'You really are serious about this, aren't you?' Bunta asked.

'Definitely,' Yuuichi replied.

'He's so lucky!' Yamada exclaimed all of a sudden, 'here I am, twenty three years old, and I still haven't found my sweetheart.'

'That's just your own bloody fault,' Masashi pointed out, 'if you stopped playing around, maybe you'd be able to get a decent girl.'

'You're the one to talk,' Yamada protested, 'when was the last time you had a date, huh?'

This made both Bunta and Yuuichi stare at Masashi with an almost morbid amount of curiosity while they waited for the Akina Firebolt's leader to answer to his best friend's question. Then, finding himself cornered, Masashi capitulated and said:

'This may come as a bit of a shock but, I actually have a girlfriend.'

This statement of his was followed by an even longer, heavier silence till, probably unable to contain himself, Yamada let out a disbelieving snort.

'Masa-kun, your car doesn't count.'

Bunta and Yuuichi burst out laughing, only to stop when a very pissed off Masashi whacked them onto the back of their heads with the sports car's magazine he'd been holding in his hand.

'I'll have you to know that I have been seeing a girl for quite a while.'

'Really?' Bunta asked him.

'YES!' Masashi shouted, 'why is it so hard to believe?'

'Er…'

'Wait,' Masashi interrupted him half covering his face with his free hand, 'I don't think I want to know the answer to that question…'

With a brand new burst of laughter, Yamada, Bunta and Yuuichi enjoyed the rare occasion in which Masashi was allowing them to make fun of him and, for once, the Akina Firebolt's leader just let them have a laugh. After everything that had happened to Bunta and Yuuichi in the past days, Masashi knew that the two younger men more than needed it.

'What in the…' he muttered all of a sudden.

'What's up?' Yamada asked while still wiping a tear that had been shed because of all the laughing.

'That,' Masashi replied pointing at a car which was coming up the road and that was, apparently, heading their way.

'That's a…' Yuuichi started.

'Oh no,' Bunta said interrupting his best friend, 'I think I know who that is.'

'Really?' Masashi asked.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied darkly while the pitch black 1972 Porsche 911 entered the small car park. The car's engine had obviously been tuned by a team of experts and, that rear wing the car sported hadn't come from a normal store either.

Such a flashy car could only belong to one person…

'Fujiwara,' Takashi Itachi said coming out of his car, 'I knew I'd find you here.'

'What do you want Itachi?' Bunta replied, managing to keep a remarkably cool tone of voice.

'Manners, my friend, manners,' Itachi replied smiling in such as sneak-like way that it sent Bunta and his friends a shiver down their spine.

'What can we do for you?' Masashi decided to intervene.

'See?' Itachi asked Bunta, 'now, that's much better.'

'Itachi…'

'Oh, okay,' Itachi said, now looking as though as he was getting bored with the conversation, 'you really don't know how to play.'

'What do you want?' Bunta repeated. For some reason this guy managed to get on his nerves even faster than Kogashiwa had ever done and that, was saying something.

'Alright,' Itachi said finally dropping his act and sounding every bit as dry as Bunta, 'my father has just told me you've accepted his invitation to join the team…'

A twin gasp coming from Yuuichi and Masashi was quickly silenced by Bunta's glare.

'…however,' Itachi continued, 'as you may have noticed, I'm a little less than eager to welcome you into the team.'

'I noticed,' was Bunta's emotionless reply.

'Well,' Itachi said, 'I know you're into street racing and, so I am…I consider it some sort of a hobby because no racer who takes racing seriously does it for any other reason.'

'Hey,' Masashi protested.

'What is it that you want?' Bunta asked Itachi while asking Masashi silently to be quiet.

'That's easy,' Itachi replied, 'we race, in…here,' he added looking at the pass disdainfully, 'if you win, well, I'll have to accept you into the team. If you lose, you'll forget you were even allowed to drive my racing car.'

'That's bullshit!' Yuuichi suddenly exclaimed, 'it's not…'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta interrupted his best friend, 'if all he wants is a race, I'll be happy to oblige.'

Itachi seemed to be taken aback by the icy but most confident tone of voice Bunta was using but, recovering admiringly fast, he nodded and said:

'Good, since I don't have that much time to waste on these silly games, how about if we do it tonight?'

'Ten o'clock?' Bunta asked.

'Ten o'clock,' Itachi confirmed.

With that and without sparing a second glance at any of the three other guys, Itachi climbed back into his Porsche and, turning the engine back on, he accelerated leaving a cloud of smoke behind him as he took off to get out of the car park.

'What in the heck…' Yamada was the first one to break the silence which had formed after Itachi's departure.

'Bunta…' Masashi then started.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'don't worry about it. I've got everything under control.'

_To be continued…_


	40. Chapter Thirty Nine

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Thirty Nine_

A few minutes after nine o'clock, Bunta drove his 2000GT uphill noticing with just a hint of displeasure that the galleries were almost as packed as how they were during the 'usual' racing events. Not that he minded them though, he was now getting used to them and, deep down, Bunta felt that it helped having a certain amount of public which, in their own particular way, encouraged him to do his best.

The reason why he wasn't too happy about seeing them there was that, for some reason unknown even to himself, he would have preferred to keep this race as private as possible.

Fat chance of it now, he thought bitterly while he glanced at his side's rear view mirror to check that he hadn't left Yuuichi's Capella too far behind. Predictably enough, the poor Mazda's engine seemed to be giving all it had just to keep up with the much more powerful Toyota's.

At long last, he made it to the top where he saw a larger than usual number of cars and, amongst them, he spotted a very familiar looking midnight blue Nissan with its driver nearly perched onto its boot. Ken Kogashiwa jumped down rather athletically and rushed towards the 2000GT as Bunta placed it facing the downhill.

For a wild second, Bunta considered locking himself into the car so that he could effectively ignore who, before Itachi's appearance, had been his biggest rival then, realising that he'd only look stupid if he did so, he took a very deep, steadying breath before climbing out of the car.

'Fujiwara,' Kogashiwa started, 'what in the heck is going on?'

Bunta wanted to burst out laughing. Instead, he asked:

'What do you think?'

'Weren't you supposed to wait till the end of May to race me?' Kogashiwa insisted.

'Well,' Bunta replied calmly, 'it's not like I planned this, it just sort of happened.'

'Really?' Kogashiwa asked using a rather aggressive tone of voice.

'It's true,' Masashi hurried towards them to say, 'he got a challenge this afternoon.'

Next to the Akina Firebolt's leader, Yuuichi and a few of the other local racers readied themselves to defend their friend. Not that it was really necessary for Bunta, looking supremely unconcerned, gave Kogashiwa a little, dismissing wave with his left hand and said:

'We'll still race, don't worry, besides, it's not like I said I wouldn't race anyone else before you.'

Kogashiwa glared at him for a bit before giving Bunta a curt nod, maybe acknowledging the fact that he was, after all, being rather ridiculous about the whole thing…

'So,' he said, 'who are you racing tonight? Anyone I know?'

Bunta shook his head, 'he's not a local,' he replied and was about to tell him more when, not too far away from there, they all heard the deep roar of a very powerful-sounding engine. A few moments later, Kogashiwa's jaw dropped fractionally.

'W-what…' he stuttered.

'That'll be my opponent,' Bunta said coolly, his racer instincts beginning to get him in the right mood, 'now, Kogashiwa, as nice as it may be chatting to you, I've got a race to win.'

With that, Ken forced himself to take a few steps backwards as Itachi's pitch black Porsche 911 made its way to his spot, next to Bunta's immaculate white 2000GT. Seeing both cars parked side by side was quite a sight, Ken thought to himself.

Now that Kogashiwa was out of the way, Bunta focused his attention on Itachi who was now climbing out of the German car and, even before the taller guy could even open his mouth to speak, Bunta said:

'You're over half an hour early; do you want to practice a little before we start?'

'No thanks,' Itachi replied, 'I've driven this road before.'

'Have you now?' Bunta asked him, keeping an even tone of voice, his face refusing to show the surprise Itachi's statement had just caused him, 'in that case, why wait till ten? We can start now, can't we?'

'Sure,' Itachi replied giving Bunta a smirk which made his features look quite ugly. Objectively speaking, Itachi wasn't bad looking but he had a snake-like kind of flair which made him definitely unappealing. Bunta noticed with pleasure the disgusted looks on a few of the girls who, as usual, stood behind the guardrails, ready to enjoy the show.

Bunta nodded and turned his back to him when he heard Itachi mutter, 'Geez, he's eager to be beaten.' That made Bunta turn round sharply and, frowning, he asked:

'What did you just say?'

'Eh?' Itachi said feigning ignorance, 'I really don't know what you're talking about, Fujiwara.'

Masashi and Yuuichi looked ready to beat the crap out of Itachi when Bunta, repeating the same dismissing little wave, smiled in a very dangerous kind of way and, again, he nodded once before making his way back to his car, climbing into it as fast as he could.

'Wow,' Kogashiwa whispered leaning towards Yuuichi, 'I've always known Bunta's public relations' skills left a lot to be desired but, I think that guy over there dislikes him even more than I do.'

Yuuichi stared at Kogashiwa with a disbelieving look on his face.

'I'm his best friend, remember?' he asked then, not giving him the time to answer, he added, 'what are you doing in here anyway? If I didn't know better, I'd think you're stalking Bunta.'

Kogashiwa let out a short laugh before replying:

'I'm not doing anything like that. I just happened to overhear that guy over there talking about it at the cafeteria you guys have next to the motorway.'

Following Kogashiwa's finger, Yuuichi saw that he was pointing at Masashi's best friend Yamada. He then made himself a mental note to ask Yamada, and everyone else for that matter, not to discuss racing arrangements so freely while in public places.

Lost in this train of thought, Yuuichi almost didn't hear when Bunta called his name. He then rushed towards his best friend's car and, crouching next to the driver's side door, he said:

'What's up?'

'Nothing,' Bunta replied, 'I just want you to do the countdown and, well…I…'

'You'll beat him,' Yuuichi said resolutely, 'I know you will.'

Bunta nodded and, offering his best, most confident looking grin, he said, 'of course I will.'

Yuuichi let out a chuckle before standing back up and, circling the Toyota, he stepped in front of the two cars, taking the chance to observe the 911 a bit better. He wasn't an expert in foreign cars but, from all he knew about that particular one, he realised that Bunta would indeed need every ounce of his nearly legendary self-confidence if he wanted to win this race.

Swallowing, feeling a lot more nervous than he'd allowed Bunta to see, Yuuichi lifted his right fist, holding it there as he started counting down to five with his fingers and, upon reaching zero, he shouted:

'GO!'

He had been expecting it and, he had even braced himself for it but, the rush of wind provoked by the two speeding sports cars made Yuuichi fall onto the ground, having to put both hands in front of him in order to stop his face from hitting the tarmac.

'Wow,' he whispered while scrambling back to a standing position.

'That's a nasty piece of work,' Masashi commented while he, Yamada and a few other members of the Akina Firebolts walked towards him. Yuuichi wasn't paying attention to any of them: he was more worried about the fact that, for the first time ever, Bunta seemed to be a little less in control of the situation than he usually was…

In fact, back into the 2000GT, Bunta felt the first tiny pearls of cold sweat form onto his forehead. Itachi, not only had managed to get the lead right from the very start of the race but, judging by the looks of it, he had done so without having to push his Porsche all that much.

'Fuck,' he muttered to no one in particular while his mind started coming up with some sort of strategy. It was clear that, power-wise, the Toyota was the underdog here but, like Eikichi had reminded him more than once, while going downhill, power wasn't paramount.

What was very important was to concentrate on his driving, forgetting all about Itachi so that when they would reach the more twisted part of the pass, Bunta would have at least a chance to orchestrate one or two attacks.

'I've driven this road before,' Itachi had said earlier. Yeah, okay, Bunta thought, the guy had probably driven up and down the Akina's pass for a bit but, excepting Eikichi and maybe a few of the Akina Firebolts, no one had spent as much time as he had making sure that he knew every tiny secret the narrow road held.

Yes, he could still win!

A few instants later and having cleared the first few of the tight corners this course was so famous for, Bunta's strategy began paying off and, while he couldn't think of trying to close the gap and overtake the Porsche right then, he knew that it was now a question of time.

Shifting the gears and carefully balancing the pressure he applied onto the pedals, Bunta let the car's four tyres slide across the apex of a corner, clearing it so fast that he found himself tackling the next even before he could start enjoying himself.

His lips curling into a small smile, he saw that the gap was already shortening and that, while Itachi's command of his machine was surprisingly good, his cornering skills, at least while going downhill here in Akina, weren't anywhere near as spectacular as Bunta had feared.

'The bastard…' he whispered to himself. To think that he had even allowed himself to feel a degree of concern over the whole thing! It was now rather clear that Itachi was just what Bunta had decided within minutes of meeting the guy: a spoilt little brat with too much money and not enough talent.

Turn after turn, Bunta saw the Porsche's stupidly big rear wing getting closer until, just a couple of corners away from the first of the famous series of hairpins, the front bumper of his beloved Toyota was just mere centimetres away from the 911's number-plate.

'Alright,' Bunta said to the 2000GT, 'now is when we start having some fun, huh?'

Pressing a little bit more the accelerator, he let the revving of the engine pass for an answer and, taking a few breaths, Bunta prepared himself to execute what, he hoped, would be the first and only attack. Not that he had any doubts about his ability to overtake Itachi but, his street racing experience had shown him that one had to be as economical as possible when it came to attacking the opponent.

His races against Kogashiwa had taught him that the hard way.

Waiting till both cars entered the final right-hander before the hairpins, Bunta started veering towards the outside of the turn, his rival had closed the space on the inside, keeping an eye on the gap as well as on the black Porsche, praying for all that was holy that Itachi would not be so stupid as to try and crash the 911 against the 2000GT.

Bracing himself for the worst, Bunta launched himself, kamikaze-like, going forward as fast as he could make the Toyota go, hearing both it's engine roar and the tyres squealing wildly as he cleared the corner with his car just a handful of centimetres ahead of the Porsche.

Then, what he'd been dreading happened: just as he was about to use the small percentage of power he'd been saving to complete the overtaking manoeuvre, he saw, out of the corner of an eye, as Itachi started driving his car towards the side of Bunta's.

'Shit,' he muttered, his fast eyes looking at, in this order, the too-solid looking guardrail in one side, the approaching black car and ultimately, the road ahead of him.

Shaking his head briefly, he realised that there was no way on earth he could use what little advantage he had to make it ahead of the Porsche so, clenching his jaw so tight that it almost hurt, he shifted his foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal and, putting all of his weight on it, he managed to make the car skid to an almost complete stop, just to move his foot back to the accelerator and, the microsecond he saw the Porsche drifting in front of him, he pressed the accelerator again while fighting with the steering wheel so that he could make it to the now vacant inside, passing in between the Porsche and the rocky wall, so close to the latter that he almost felt the vegetation scratch the paint of his beloved car.

He found that, somehow, he didn't care about the paintwork all that much. He had made it to the front of the race and now, with only the hairpins and a handful of corners left before the final, straighter sector of the course, he had the chance he needed to build up enough of a lead to take him to the finish line almost effortlessly.

By the time he did so, the small smile on his face had become a huge grin which got only wider when he saw the happy faces of the local guys, a few of them, rumour had it, were actually planning on beating the crap out of Bunta if he had dared to allow an outsider beat him in Akina, driving a foreign car no less…

'What did I tell you?' Bunta heard one of the guys shout while he got out of his car, '911 or not, there's no way he'd beat Bunta's 2000GT!'

Bunta had to repress a chuckle when he saw the sour expression appear on Itachi's face as he, having just arrived there, climbed out of his car. With a positively murderous expression on his face, Itachi walked towards him and, pointing a finger at Bunta, he snarled:

'This isn't over! You may have made it to the team but, when we'll be on the racing track, I won't be as lenient as I've been tonight!'

'Is that so?' a highly amused Bunta said, 'well, let me tell you this Itachi,' he added putting a special emphasis on the guy's surname, 'once we'll be on the racing track, and since I won't be driving my own car, it's _me _who won't be as careful as I've been just now.'

Itachi looked for a brief moment as though as Bunta had just slapped him then, managing an amazingly fast recovery, he spat:

'What happened back there is nothing compared to what awaits for you at the racing tracks so, you'd better get used to it, if you ever want to become a proper racer, that is.'

This time, Bunta didn't even grace him with an answer. Instead, he smiled and nodded once before giving his back to him so that he could climb back into his 2000GT. 'A proper racer…he wouldn't know one if he stood on his foot,' he muttered to himself.

'What was that?' Itachi shouted at him.

Bunta turned just his head and, smiling as innocently as he could, he said, 'I really don't know what you're talking about, Itachi.'

Knowing that he had just added a new entry to his growing list of enemies, Bunta made it back to the summit where, he knew, his friends were waiting for him to celebrate his new victory, together with the fact that he and Yuuichi were no longer students and that Yuuichi was now an engaged man.

Oh yes, that night, there were plenty of things to celebrate so Bunta decided to brush aside all the worries the morning would bring with it and, for once, he didn't even mind having Kogashiwa pestering him about the race they had pending since the beginning of the winter which, thankfully enough, was at long last coming to an end.

A couple of weeks later, and while Bunta and his uncle were cleaning the boxes of tofu, getting them ready for the morning's delivery, Eikichi asked him if he had any plans for dinner.

'Not really,' Bunta said, 'I was thinking of going with Yuuichi and the guys up the pass, why?'

'Well,' Eikichi started, 'Itachi-san has kindly invited us to his place as a way to celebrate that you're part of his team.'

'What?' Bunta asked before he could help himself, 'why?' he added.

'You've heard me,' Eikichi replied with just a hint of impatience, 'I tried to wring us out of it but, as you know, Itachi can be pretty persistent when he wants to be.'

'Yeah, it must run in the family,' Bunta agreed thinking of the morning when he and his uncle had gone to Itachi-san's office to sign the contract. As it happened, Midori seemed to think that a moment when she wasn't touching Bunta in one way or another was just a waste.

'Why are you saying that?' Eikichi asked him giving him the kind of look which Bunta feared the most. The one when, regardless of what he said next, Eikichi would end up figuring things out nonetheless.

'Er…'

Eikichi frowned and said:

'Yeah, I noticed the way Takashi-kun was looking at you, it seemed like he can't wait to get back at you for what you did to him two weeks ago.'

'Hey,' Bunta said, all-too happy that his uncle, for once in his life, was completely off-track, 'it was him who challenged me to a race, remember?'

'Yeah,' Eikichi replied, 'but still, you will want to be careful with him.'

'I know Eikichi, I know,' Bunta said, 'don't worry, I can handle him.'

His uncle gave him a look which spelt out 'I hope so' as clearly as a billboard. Then, shrugging his broad shoulders, the older man just went back inside so that he could start cutting the tofu into the characteristic square-ish portions.

A few hours after Bunta had returned from doing the deliveries with the Bellett still in pristine order, Eikichi and he were climbing back into the car, this time with Eikichi behind the wheel, so that they could drive to Yokohama where, Bunta knew, the Itachi's had their residence.

'What's wrong?' Eikichi asked him after they had been cruising down the Kan'Etsu for a while.

'Nothing,' Bunta replied then, tugging at his newest shirt, he said, 'I still don't understand why I can't wear one of my jerseys instead of this thing.'

'Bunta,' Eikichi started, using his most patient sounding tone of voice, 'a jacket and a shirt won't kill you. It's a formal dinner with your boss, get used to wearing smart things once in a while, ok?'

'I don't like wearing suits,' Bunta insisted, 'it reminds me of…'

He stopped himself for he had been about to mention the last time he'd been wearing a suit: his parents' funeral.

'…school,' he hurried up to say before Eikichi noticed anything strange.

Eikichi laughed out loud and, for some reason, went to tousle Bunta's carefully groomed hair, making a mess of it in the process.

'Oi!' Bunta exclaimed, 'I spent half an hour to get it to lay flat like this!'

'Oops, sorry,' Eikichi apologised but, the smile he had on his lips made Bunta think that his uncle was anything but sorry. Shaking his head, Bunta went to look out of his window, noticing by the amount of factories and industrial structures that they were getting closer to Yokohama.

Fifteen minutes later, and thanks to the carefully drawn map courtesy of Midori herself, the two men made it to the front door of the Itachi, one of the servants of the huge manor-like house hurrying to get the door open for him.

'Welcome to our home,' Mrs Itachi greeted them. She was a tall and elegant woman who happened to be an aged copy of Midori who, right at that instant, appeared at the top of the stairs, walking down the steps with the grace of a top model.

'Bunta-kun,' she said smiling sweetly then, turning briefly to Eikichi, she said, 'Fujiwara-san.'

Eikichi just managed a curt nod and Bunta was quite amused to see that his uncle seemed to be as nervous as he was when surrounded by the gentler sex. Thankfully, Itachi-san and his son came to the rescue.

'Hello there,' Itachi-san said, 'did you find the house alright?'

'We did,' Eikichi replied, 'Midori-chan's map was very helpful.'

'Oh,' she hurried to day, 'it was nothing. Now,' she added taking Bunta by his arm in a boa constrictor-like grasp, 'let me take you to the dinning room…'

'O-okay,' Bunta said, as though as he had a say in the matter. The two of them were quickly followed by the rest of the Itachis plus Eikichi. For some reason Bunta took some degree of pleasure seeing that his uncle felt as out of place as he did in this enormous and expensively furnished mansion.

Within minutes they were all sitting down at the table, waiting for the first course to be served, when Midori, before her brother actually managed to kill Bunta with his glare, _accidentally_ toppled her half full glass of red wine onto the table, spilling Bunta's white shirt in the process.

'Oh dear!' she exclaimed at the same time as Mrs Itachi gasped audibly, 'I'm so sorry…'

'It's alright,' Bunta said trying to blotch the small but visible red stains with his napkin.

'No it's not,' Midori said, 'here,' she added taking his arm, 'we'll need to get it cleaned or the stains won't come off.'

A quickly panicking Bunta looked at his uncle who appeared to be as much at a loss about what to do as Bunta himself was.

'Yes dear,' Mrs Itachi said talking to him, 'you should give the shirt to the housekeeper, she'll get it clean in no time. Midori, why don't you show him to the bathroom so he can take it off? I'm sure we've got a spare shirt he can borrow in the mean time.'

'No,' Bunta replied, his voice a notch higher than usual, 'it's nothing really.'

'Don't be silly,' Midori said pulling him up from his chair and, before he could do anything to prevent it, he found himself dragged out of the room and along a corridor. There, Midori opened one of the doors on the left. Then she said with a very husky voice, 'come on in.'

Bunta swallowed realising that the girl had no intentions whatsoever of letting him go into the bathroom by himself and, for a fraction of a second, considered fleeing as fast as he could. As though as she had sensed his intentions, Midori pulled him by his arm and, soon enough, he found himself locked into the bathroom with the girl walking towards him with a most resolute expression on her beautiful face.

_To be continued…_


	41. Chapter Forty

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Forty_

Before Bunta could do anything useful like running out of the bathroom, he felt his back collide against the blue-ish tiles which covered the walls of the western-style bathroom. Midori had him cornered and, with a knot tying his throat in a rather painful manner, a quickly panicking Bunta started breaking out in a cold sweat.

Nevertheless, he still gathered enough courage to stutter:

'Mi-Midori, we- er…'

'Shush,' Midori said smiling playfully, putting a manicured finger on top of Bunta's trembling lips, 'now,' she carried on, 'why don't we take this off.'

Bunta realised a split-second too late that she was talking about his stained shirt. His confounded brain barely registered when Midori, with expert hands, started undoing his shirt's buttons. It was only then that Bunta finally reacted.

'Wait,' he said trying to get her hands off him, doing his best to push her away from him without being too rough, 'this is…'

He never finished the sentence for, right at that moment, Midori pushed him back towards the wall and, without giving him the time to neither do nor say anything else, she got on her tiptoes and crushed her lips against Bunta's.

A whirling sensation replaced the knot in his throat and, what probably were just a few instants, felt like years to Bunta whose hands had now surrendered and fell limp on each side of his body. Feeling beyond shocked, Bunta realised that if the kiss didn't end soon he'd probably end up fainting.

'Touch me,' Midori whispered, her lips hovering over Bunta's.

'What?' Bunta managed to ask, his voice sounding croaky for his throat was dryer than the Saharan desert.

'Touch me,' Midori repeated and, to make a point, she grabbed Bunta's left hand placing it onto her waist. She then tried to go back to kissing him when Bunta, putting both of his hands onto her waist managed, at long last, to push her away as gently as he could.

'Wait,' he said, 'Midori, this is crazy.'

'I know,' she said smiling, 'I've never felt like this before.'

'Midori, we can't do this,' he tried again.

'Why not?' she asked him, her smile beginning to falter, 'I love you,' she said, with so much conviction that Bunta was so taken aback by this sudden confession he almost forgot how to speak, 'and I know you fancy me,' she continued, 'I've seen the way you look at me.'

'Wh-what?' Bunta stuttered, 'er…Midori…'

'You talk too much,' she complained and, with that, she made to go and kiss him again. This time though, Bunta was prepared and, still holding her waist with both of his hands, he used a little tiny bit of his strength to keep her away from him.

'Midori-chan, listen to me,' he started, 'you're a really good looking woman and, I'm really flattered you…'

'Stop it,' a very serious Midori ordered, 'don't say anything else or you'll ruin everything.'

Bunta looked at her upset expression for a second or two, shocked to see such a radical change from the previously playful and almost childish look she had had on just a few moments before. He found this kind of mood swings some girls seemed to have to be most unnerving.

'Midori,' he said, choosing his words carefully, 'it's not like I don't fancy you. You're a really good looking girl and…'

'Bunta,' she warned him.

'Let me finish,' he ordered her, a frown appearing on his forehead. This seemed to do the trick for, immediately, she fell silent. Bunta took the chance to say, as quickly as he could, 'I'm going to be working for your father and your brother clearly hates me. If we got together, he would probably kill me and make it look like an accident.'

'That's not true,' Midori retorted, 'as long as you made me happy, he'd let you be.'

'Yeah, right,' was Bunta's highly disbelieving reply, 'even so,' he insisted, desperate to make a point, 'I'm still going to be working for your father. I don't think…'

'Why are you making excuses?' she asked him with a hurt tone of voice, 'why don't you just say you don't love me back?'

'Midori!' he exclaimed, 'I hardly know you! I can't be in love with you just yet and, hey, neither can you, okay? I mean…'

He stopped speaking realising Midori had started crying.

'Midori…'

'Two weeks,' she muttered.

'What?'

'Give me two weeks,' she repeated, 'we'll see each other for two weeks and, if by the end of it you still don't want me, then I'll let you go.'

'Midori…'

'Am I asking you that much?' Midori cried, 'you said you think I'm a really good looking girl!'

'You are,' he rushed to say.

'Then?' she said, 'why can't you go out with me?'

Bunta considered telling her the very long list of reasons why he believed that going anywhere near her was nothing short of suicidal when, maybe because he knew that Midori would never take a 'no' for an answer, he shook his head in defeat and said:

'Alright, we'll go out.'

'Really?' Midori asked, her face now lit up like a Christmas tree, 'I knew it! I just…'

'Midori,' Bunta interrupted her, 'we'll go out but you need to promise me something.'

'Yes,' she said almost bobbing up and down out of sheer enthusiasm, 'anything.'

'You'll stick to your end of the deal and, if by the end of the second week we see that things are not working, you'll let go and accept it,' Bunta said, unable to decide what was weirder: the harsh tone of voice he was using or that he was agreeing to this madness in the first place, 'also,' he added as an afterthought, 'we need to keep this a secret, alright?'

'A secret?' she asked him.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'I'm serious, if your brother finds out about this, he'll kill me.' He said this as firmly as it was humanly possible and, for a few moments, he allowed himself to hope that she wouldn't agree with his conditions. Unfortunately, Midori's smile just got wider as she said:

'A secret relationship, that's sounds so exciting!'

Somehow Bunta found himself pushed back to the wall and felt Midori's soft lips covering his once again, this time she was kissing him with so much passion that he was grateful his hands were still on her waist for, otherwise, he would have slid down to the floor in a most embarrassing manner.

'Now,' she whispered sexily, 'we really need to get this shirt off.'

By the time they made it back to the dinning room, Bunta knew that they had been away for an indecent amount of time and that there was no way they could justify it in any plausible way. He even avoided the stare Eikichi was giving him as he and Midori re-took their seats.

'There you are,' Takashi said, 'we thought you two had got lost.'

'Oh,' Midori said lightly, 'I ended up washing the shirt myself, you know.'

'You washed the shirt yourself?' Mrs Itachi asked and, for some reason, she looked at Midori's delicate hands with a worried frown appearing on her beautiful features.

'Yes,' Midori replied, 'I've never done it before and I wanted to give it a try.'

Bunta thought that there was no way anyone present would buy such a lame excuse but, to his utmost astonishment, both Mr and Mrs Itachi seemed to believe their daughter one hundred percent. Only Takashi and Eikichi seemed a tad more than suspicious over the whole thing.

'Dear,' an amused Itachi-san said, 'you certainly have had your fair share of strange hobbies but, I hope doing the laundry is not going to become one of them.'

'Oh no,' Midori assured him, offering a very sweet smile, 'Bunta told me that I'm not very good at it.'

'Did he now?' Takashi asked her while eyeing Bunta, 'of course, he'd be an expert.'

'I am,' Bunta retorted, having finally found his voice, 'as a matter of fact, I'm the one who takes care of the laundry back home, aren't I, Eikichi?'

'He is,' Eikichi replied using a non-committal tone of voice.

The rest of the meal went by with Midori asking her father to tell Bunta and his uncle about his plans for the team and, before they knew it, it was almost midnight when Eikichi politely declined Mrs Itachi's offer to stay in their house for the night.

'Are you sure?' Midori asked him, 'Fujiwara-san, it's a really long drive and…'

'I'm sorry Midori-chan,' Eikichi said, 'as you know I've got a business to run and Bunta and I have got to prepare the morning's delivery.'

'In that case,' Itachi-san intervened, 'be careful on the motorway, I've heard that there are people who use it to race illegally. Imagine that.'

Bunta noticed how Takashi's eyes shifted around the room uncomfortably, ultimately settling on the tips of his horribly expensive, probably made in Italy, pair of shoes. This made Bunta smirk at him while, forcing themselves to be as civil as possible, they greeted each other.

'I'll see you at the track,' Bunta said coolly.

'Yes, you will,' Takashi replied, copying his team-mate's icy tone.

At long last, the two Fujiwaras left the Itachi's residence and, during the following twenty minutes or so, both Bunta and his uncle remained silent while the latter drove them home. They were about to get onto the motorway which led to Shibukawa when Eikichi spoke using a stern tone of voice:

'You're playing with fire.'

'Wh-what?'

'You heard me,' Eikichi replied, 'you and Midori-chan were away for almost fifteen minutes. Itachi and his wife may have thought nothing of it for they're probably used to their daughter's less than normal behaviour but, I know something happened between you two.'

'I've agreed to start seeing her,' Bunta confessed, knowing fully well that keeping something like this from his uncle would be next to impossible.

'You've what?' Eikichi exclaimed and the Bellett's started veering dangerously towards one of the sides of the wide road which, thankfully enough happened to be devoid of other cars. Remembering that his uncle wasn't supposed to have strong emotions, Bunta explained everything to him as quickly as he could.

'I didn't have any choice,' he added defensively.

'Oh yes you did,' Eikichi countered, 'Bunta, do you even _like_ her?'

'Of course I do,' Bunta replied, 'she's a really good looking girl.'

Eikichi glanced at him through the semi-darkness of the car before returning his attention to the road ahead making Bunta think that he was going to drop the subject. He was wrong.

'I don't need to tell you that…'

'Listen,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I didn't know what else to do, alright?' he asked, 'I would have loved to see what _you _would do if a girl corners you in a bathroom and starts molesting you.'

The words escaped his mouth before he could even register them in his brain and, for a couple of seconds he thought his uncle would fly off the handle. Instead, and most surprisingly, Eikichi let out a soft chuckle.

'Alright,' he said, 'I see what you mean but, what are you going to do at the end of the two weeks?'

'No idea,' Bunta confessed, 'I was hoping you'd give me some advice,' he half-whispered, feeling extraordinarily hot all of a sudden despite the fact that the temperature in the car was quite low for it was, after all, past midnight and April was being as cold as March had been.

'Oh well I'm sorry Bunta but,' a smirking Eikichi said, 'tofu-making, cars, school subjects, I'm good at all of them…women, on the other hand…they're as much of a mystery to me as they are to you.'

'Great,' Bunta said sardonically, 'in that case, I guess I'll see how it goes and take it from there.'

'Yeah,' Eikichi agreed.

'Eikichi,' Bunta said, considering the possibility for the first time ever, 'what if she's right? What if by the end of the second week I won't want her to let go of me?'

'In that case,' Eikichi said, 'you'll be in for a huge amount of trouble.'

'I knew you were going to say something like that,' Bunta complained, feeling even more ashamed of himself when he heard Eikichi repressing a chuckle so badly that it made the younger of the two Fujiwara say 'hey, enough with that.'

'Sorry,' Eikichi said, still sounding indecently amused. Then, just as Bunta thought that they would remain quiet till they got home, he heard his uncle ask, 'I take that now you're on your way to professionalism you'll quit street racing.'

'Er…'

'Bunta,' Eikichi cut him off, 'you heard Itachi's last remark, didn't you?'

'Yeah, I did,' Bunta replied.

'Then you know that your boss doesn't exactly approve of street racing. What are you going to do about it?'

Bunta considered his answer carefully for a few instants. It was true that he had always dreamt of becoming a professional racer and that he was merely using street racing as a way to achieve that goal but…somehow, he couldn't help but to think that he'd sorely miss the whole street racing scene.

'I guess I'll quit doing it then,' he finally said.

'Good,' Eikichi said, sounding almost relieved.

'However,' Bunta continued, 'I still have one challenge pending. I'm going to race that Kogashiwa from Tochigi.' Seeing that Eikichi wasn't saying anything to that, he added, 'I promised it to him before I learnt about the Itachi Team.'

'It's alright,' Eikichi said, 'a promise is a promise. But after that…'

'No more street races, I know,' Bunta finished for him then, before he could stop himself, he said, 'uncle Eikichi, I thought you were okay with my street racing.'

'I am,' Eikichi replied, 'but that was before you became a member of an official racing team.'

'I bet you anything Takashi's not going to stop racing on the Wangan,' Bunta countered.

'Yeah,' Eikichi agreed, 'but, unlike him, you're not Itachi's son and you can't get away with half of the stuff that Takashi brat does so…'

Bunta choose to remain silent for, he knew, he was already pressing his luck with his new boss having agreed to start dating Midori and, in any case, he hoped he'd get the thrills he loved so much from racing on the track so that he wouldn't miss street racing so much.

For this reason he would just race down Mt Akina one more time. He would enjoy the whole process, from preparing the car to the race itself, savouring every minute of it. Kogashiwa would have the honour of being his last rival before he would attempt to become a successful professional racer.

'Hey,' Eikichi's voice interrupted his train of thoughts, 'are you going to be here for much longer?'

The question made him realise that they had stopped the car outside the tofu shop the Fujiwaras had owned for three generations and that his uncle had already climbed out of the car.

'No, of course not,' Bunta replied.

'Good,' Eikichi said, 'hurry up, we've got a lot of work to do or we'll be late with our delivery.'

As he followed his uncle inside the shop's working area Bunta realised that it was almost half past one in the morning. Realising that this would probably mean that he wasn't going to get much sleep, if at all, he went into the kitchen to make some coffee while his uncle started washing his hands before cutting the tofu up.

Six hours later, after having completed the deliveries just on time, Bunta drove his beloved Toyota 2000GT all the way down Mt Akina, using up the chance to assess all the modifications and changes he wanted to do to the car before his race versus Kogashiwa.

'Oh shit,' Bunta muttered to himself, 'Yuuichi…'

Remembering about the agreement he had made with his best friend all those months before, he started wondering how he'd break the news of his premature retirement from the street racing scene. For this reason, instead of heading out of the interstate to go back home, Bunta kept on driving towards Shibukawa's city centre where the Tachibana had their petrol station.

'Hey,' a sleepy looking Yuuichi said, 'what are you doing in here?'

'I needed to talk to you and I knew you're on the early shift this week,' Bunta replied getting out of the 2000GT, leaving the door open just in case.

'You needed to talk to me?' Yuuichi asked.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'listen, I…well, you know I've signed up for the Fuji Freshman Series, right?'

'Of course I do,' Yuuichi said, sounding and looking quite puzzled.

'Well,' Bunta continued, 'the thing is, I don't think I'm going to be able to do any street racing and…'

'Of course you won't,' Yuuichi said, a smile now appearing on his round face, 'I thought that was a given.'

'Yuuichi…'

'Bunta,' he interrupted him, 'I always knew that our idea of becoming the fastest duo in the country was just that: an idea.'

'Yuuichi…'

'Besides, I can't devote myself all that much time to street racing anyway,' Yuuichi said.

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked.

'I've just started working full time in here,' Yuuichi explained pointing at the petrol station with his thumb, 'and I know that my father expects me to learn how to manage it as soon as possible, which is what I hope as well: I'm going to need to save as much money as possible or Fuka and I won't be able to get married when she comes back.'

'Yeah, that's right,' Bunta said.

'Speaking of which,' Yuuichi said looking very happy all of a sudden, 'guess who's heading down to Osaka next weekend to go and see Fuka?'

'What?' Bunta almost whispered, 'you're not going to be here?'

'Er…no,' Yuuichi replied, 'why?'

'I want to race Kogashiwa before I start training with the team,' Bunta replied trying to hide the disappointment from his voice.

'Ah,' Yuuichi gasped all the happiness gone from his features, 'crap…er…'

'It's alright,' Bunta said quickly, 'go to Osaka, I'll be fine. I'm racing him here in Akina so I'll be fine, you don't…'

'No,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'I want to be here for the race, even more so if it's your last one.'

'It doesn't matter,' Bunta insisted, 'you'll see me racing at the track, won't you?'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'but it's not the same,' he added stubbornly, 'if only I had known this earlier I wouldn't have bought the train tickets.'

Bunta looked at his best friend with a frown creasing his forehead. He then crossed his arms onto his dark grey jumper and using his most serious tone of voice, he said:

'I'll be alright, you need to go to Osaka and see your fiancée.'

'But…'

'No buts,' Bunta insisted, 'now, I'm going to Nitta-san's repair shop so I can start working on the car.'

'You're going to re-tune it?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'this is an important race and I definitely want to win it.'

Then, before Yuuichi could say anything else, Bunta climbed back into his car and re-started the engine so he could drive out of the petrol station, leaving the owner's son standing there, clutching a worn piece of cloth.

'The bastard,' Yuuichi finally said, speaking to himself for there was no one else around. 'If he's going through so much trouble it's going to be one heck of a race…and he's actually asking me to miss it?'

He glanced at the clock which hung onto one of the petrol station's pillars: it was nearly seven am, too early to call Fuka and definitely much too early to call the Japanese Railways office to see if he could get a refund for his train tickets.

Yuuichi knew that his fiancée wasn't going to be happy about this and that there was a risk that he'd end up losing the money he'd used to pay the fare but if it was going to be the last time he'd see Bunta in action at the Akina pass, nothing would prevent him from being there.

_To be continued…_


	42. Chapter Forty One

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Forty One_

For the third morning in a row, Bunta and Masashi could be found at Nitta-san's repairs shop, bending over the open hood of the 2000GT, reassembling the engine for what it felt the umpteenth time. Masashi, wiping his brow with his left sleeve, the cleaner of the two, finished screwing one of the bolts and said:

'I think we've done everything we can to this baby.'

'I don't know,' Bunta replied, looking at the car with a frown, 'I'll tell you after I've taken it for a spin.'

'Bunta,' Masashi started, using an exasperated tone of voice, 'we've really done everything we can. If we strain the engine any more than this it's going to blow up on you.'

The younger of the two guys remained silent and, instead of replying, Bunta closed the hood's lid so that he could take the car onto the lift to start working on the suspensions. Masashi observed his friend while he slid onto the driver's seat and, after shaking his head a couple of times, he sighed.

'I just don't understand,' Masashi said, 'what's the point of tuning it up to one hundred and ninety horsepower? You must know that power is not that important while going down Mt Akina's pass.'

'Who said I was going to go downhill?' Bunta said from behind the wheel of his car while he made it roll onto the lift's platform, climbing out of it as soon as it was positioned where he wanted it.

'You're not?' a startled Masashi asked, 'but…I thought…'

'Look,' Bunta interrupted him, 'this is going to be my very last street race. I want to put an end to that with style.'

'So you're going uphill then,' Masashi said.

'No,' Bunta replied, 'I'm going to do the same I did with those GTO guys from Akagi.'

'No way!' Masashi exclaimed, 'have you warned Kogashiwa about that?'

'No need,' Bunta replied with a sneer, 'as a matter of fact, it was he the one who proposed that we'd race in two stints. When I told him that it was our final race he said he wanted to make sure that whoever won would have the complete supremacy over the loser.'

Masashi could only stare at Bunta for he was at a loss about what to say. He only knew one thing: the fierce look on Bunta's face meant that he was damn serious about this race and, for the first time since he had met the guy, just nine months before, he realised that racing was a whole lot more than a hobby to Bunta.

It was a dream.

'Alright,' Masashi finally gave in, 'let's get this baby in shape; goodness knows what you're going to put the poor thing through.'

Bunta allowed himself a small smile before turning round to go and pick the tools they would need while Masashi got busy operating the mechanism which would put the car a couple of meters above the ground. They had an awful lot of tweaking to do if they were to find a setting which would fit both an uphill and a downhill battle.

A few hours later, Yuuichi was leaving the station where he'd gone to try and get his train ticket to Osaka refunded, unsuccessfully for the guy at the booth had been most inflexible, when he saw a really good looking girl who clearly wasn't a local standing next to a small, light blue Daihatsu Consorte. She had one of the two doors open and was trying to check something on a badly folded map.

'Excuse me,' Yuuichi said walking towards the car slowly as to not frighten the girl who, now that he was looking at her properly, seemed oddly familiar, 'do you need help finding something?'

The girl looked up from the map and offered him such a sweet smile that Yuuichi felt his hear skip a beat.

'Yuuichi-kun, how lucky!' she exclaimed, 'it's me! Itachi Midori, do you remember me?'

'Midori-san!' Yuuichi exclaimed, finally downing on him the reason why he had thought he'd seen this girl before, 'of course I remember you,' he added, 'what are you doing in here?'

Midori spent a few moments folding up the map before throwing it carelessly onto the back seat of her car then, turning round to face Yuuichi she adjusted the light pink cardigan she was wearing on top of a painfully white dress and said:

'I'm looking for Fujiwara-san's tofu shop.'

'Ah,' Yuuichi gasped, 'er…'

'But I'm lucky: you're going to take me there, aren't you?' Midori said, in what sounded more like an order rather than a question.

'Er…' Yuuichi hesitated.

'Let's go,' Midori said, 'if we don't hurry up Bunta will have had lunch already and I'm trying to surprise him…'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi muttered, 'he's definitely going to be surprised,' added with what he hoped was a neutral enough tone of voice. In all honesty, he felt that he needed to tell Midori that Bunta didn't like that kind of surprises but, for some reason, he feared that the girl would not listen to a single word of what he said.

'Come on!' Midori exclaimed, climbing back into her car, choosing to sit onto the passenger side, implying that Yuuichi would be the one doing the driving.

'Er…m-my car,' Yuuichi stuttered, 'it's…'

'Don't worry,' Midori said dismissively, 'I'll ask Bunta to drive us back here so you can pick it up.'

Yuuichi stole a quick glance at the twin striped, dark blue Mazda Capella which was parked not too far away from where he stood and, again, he knew that nothing he could say would make any difference so, giving up, he climbed behind the Consorte's steering wheel, turning the key to get the engine going.

He wasted a few seconds re-adjusting the seat so that he could actually drive the car without getting a cramp and that was penalised by Midori with an impatient little sigh.

'Sorry,' he said even though he wasn't too sure about the reason why he was apologising then, not wanting to give Midori anymore reasons to complain, he closed the door and started driving towards Bunta's place, trying to come up with a way to justify his presence there to his best friend.

Fortunately enough, when he stopped the little car in front of the Fujiwara Tofu Shop, he saw that none of the two cars owned by Bunta and his uncle were there and, the shop, seemed to be pretty much closed.

'Where is Bunta?' Midori asked, not bothering to hide just how very disappointed she was.

'I don't know,' Yuuichi replied, praying for all that was holy that the girl wouldn't blame him for the absence of both of the Fujiwaras, 'he's probably gone out,' he added unnecessarily.

Midori looked at him, raising her two well-groomed eyebrows in disbelief before setting her beautiful features in a most determinate expression.

'Alright,' she said, 'we'll wait for him.'

'W-what?' Yuuichi stammered, 'I…'

'Oh,' Midori said, giving him a small smile, 'you're not going to leave me here alone, are you?'

Yuuichi thought that, funnily enough, there wasn't anything on earth he wanted to do more right at that instant than putting as much distance as possible between himself and that girl but, for the sake of not getting her upset, he chose to surrender.

'Of course not,' he muttered.

'Good,' she said, now smiling happily, 'you know, I think this is an excellent chance for me to get to know one of Bunta's best friends.'

'You like him, don't you?' he said before he could help himself.

'Of course,' she admitted shamelessly. Then she did something even weirder: she took a look around, as though as she was checking for eavesdroppers and, turning her gaze back to Yuuichi, she said, 'I'm not supposed to tell you this but, since you and Bunta have a close relationship, you'll probably find out sooner or latter…'

Yuuichi felt the hairs of the back of his head stand up.

'…Bunta and I are seeing each other,' Midori continued, confirming the young man's worst fears, 'but we are to keep it a secret. You know, the poor darling's worried about what my father and brother may say.'

'Really?' Yuuichi asked almost sarcastically, 'I wonder why?'

Midori gave a little laugh and, after that, she proceeded to fire question after question about Bunta to the poor Yuuichi who, trapped inside the small car with her, was unable to escape anywhere. He had never been any more desperate to see Bunta than right at that instant. Not to mention the fact that he was supposed to start his shift at the petrol station in less then fifteen minutes.

He was about to point this out to Midori when they heard the thunderous sound of a finely tuned engine coming from not too far away.

'Bunta!' Yuuichi exclaimed feeling such a rush of relief that he didn't even bother hiding just how happy he was though he doubted Midori had even noticed for she had jumped out of the car the moment she'd heard Yuuichi mention his best friend's name.

Only a handful of seconds later, they saw the characteristic low nose of the 2000GT entering the narrow street and, for just an instant, Yuuichi could have sworn he'd seen Bunta's eyes open as wide as they went after having seen Midori there and, for a fraction of an instant, Yuuichi believed that Bunta wouldn't even bother stopping.

Thankfully enough, his best friend seemed to take pity on him for, with a swift manoeuvre, Bunta parked his car just behind Midori's Daihatsu, taking longer than necessary to get out of the car, Yuuichi decided that he was probably buying some of the extra time to prepare himself mentally for what was coming at him.

'Midori-chan,' Bunta said, looking at Yuuichi briefly but sharply enough to convey quite a lot of his annoyance to him, 'what are you doing here?'

'Oh, I just wanted to surprise you,' an oblivious Midori replied, 'it wasn't easy to find this little house of yours, thank goodness Yuuichi found me.'

Bunta chose to ignore the tone the girl had used to refer herself to his residence and, instead, he gave yet another murderous glare at Yuuichi before trying to smile at Midori.

'Yokohama's a long way away from here,' he commented.

'I know,' Midori agreed, 'but it's worth the drive if I can get to see you for a bit.'

Hearing these words startled Bunta so much that he sharply switched his gaze from Midori's beautiful face to that of Yuuichi who, shockingly enough, didn't seem to have found anything wrong with them.

'…don't worry,' Midori said with one of her little laughs, 'he knows we're dating.'

This time Bunta was definitely taken aback and it took all of his willpower just to remain standing up. Slowly, he swallowed then, he went back to look at Midori's face and, trying not to sound accusing, he said with a slightly shaky voice:

'Midori, I thought we had decided to keep it a secret.'

'Oh, baby,' she countered sweetly, 'this is your best friend we're talking about, he's definitely trustworthy enough to know, isn't he?'

Yuuichi did his best not to burst out laughing when he saw the utterly horrified expression with which Bunta was now looking at him then, reminding himself that the poor guy was indeed his best friend, he decided to be sympathetic.

'It's alright Bunta, I won't tell anybody, I swear.'

Bunta failed to see how that was supposed to make him feel better but, settling for that, at least for the time being, he returned his attention to Midori.

'So, you wanted to surprise me. I'm officially surprised,' he said, now doing his best to sound enthusiastic.

'Good,' Midori said, 'now, why don't you take me out for lunch? I'd love to go to that lake that Mt Akina's so famous for…'

With that, and grabbing Bunta by his arm, the girl started walking towards the 2000GT, utterly ignoring Yuuichi in the process. He only reacted when he saw that Midori had every intention of climbing into the sports-car and that she had completely forgotten about the fact that Yuuichi's ride was at the other side of Shibukawa.

'Er…' he started, '…Midori-san…'

Midori looked at Yuuichi and, for just a few moments, she seemed to be surprised to see him there then, as though as if she had suddenly remembered something, she pointed at her car and said:

'Take it back to the station with you.'

'W-what about the keys?' Yuuichi asked her.

'Oh, keep them, Bunta knows where you work, don't you darling?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied. He looked so resigned to his fate that it was almost funny.

'See?' Midori said, 'thanks for driving me here Yuuichi-kun, I'll be sure to repay the favour.'

With that, the two of them climbed into the car and Yuuichi was left there to stare at the back of the Toyota as it drove away from the Tofu Shop. For some unknown reason, Midori's last words seemed more a threat than a promise.

At any rate, and while he climbed back behind the wheel of the light blue Consorte, Yuuichi couldn't help but to think that, for the first time in his life, Bunta seemed to have bitten a whole of a lot more than he could chew. The affair would have been hilarious if it hadn't been because Yuuichi was very worried about the way Midori seemed to have taken possession of Bunta, as though as he were her latest acquisition.

Driving back to the station and as he tried to find a good reason to present to his father that would excuse him for his tardiness, Yuuichi made up his mind to warn Bunta about this unsettling gut feeling he had.

Meanwhile, inside the 2000GT, a very uncomfortable silence had fallen between Bunta and Midori and while the girl thought that it was due to the fact that Bunta was happy about her surprise, the young man was trying to decide how to tackle the situation in the best possible way.

'Midori,' he finally said, 'I…'

'I'm sorry for showing up just like that,' Midori interrupted him.

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'about that, I thought we had agreed to see each other tomorrow afternoon.'

'I know,' Midori replied, 'I just couldn't wait for much longer. It's been four days since we saw each other and I was dying to see you.'

Bunta repressed an exasperated sigh and, instead, he tightened his grasp on the Toyota's steering wheel.

'Midori,' he started again, 'look, I'm pleased you're so eager to spend time with me but, if we're to make this work we have to observe certain rules.'

'Rules?' the girl asked, raising her eyebrows as though as she didn't even understand the meaning of the word. Again, Bunta thought, she didn't seem to be the kind of girl who had ever been put under anything remotely disciplinary. Arming himself with as much patience as he could muster, he said:

'Yes, rules, you know, a list of things we can do and that we can't.' He had never felt any more idiotic in his whole life. Here he was talking to a girl three years his senior something that he wouldn't even tell a kindergarten kid. Nevertheless, he continued, 'like, for instance, we can't tell anybody else that we're dating, okay?'

'Ah, that's the problem then,' Midori said, giving Bunta some hope, 'you're upset because you didn't want me to tell Yuuichi-kun about us. You wanted to do it yourself.'

This time the frustrated sigh left his lips before he could stop himself.

'No,' he said, 'I wasn't going to tell him, just yet. Midori, I don't think you understand that we need to be very careful.'

'Of course I do,' Midori replied laughing softly, her pleased expression confusing Bunta even more, 'you're such a darling,' she added, 'to think you were playing hard to get.'

Bunta's brain seemed unable to process anymore information and, for this reason, he simply chose to remain silent making a huge mistake.

'I knew you cared about this relationship as much as I do,' Midori commented happily.

'W-what?'

'You don't want to tell people about us because you don't want to jeopardise our relationship before it's solid enough to cope with the extra pressure,' she explained, 'that's so thoughtful of you, my dear.'

Once again Bunta found himself to be speechless in front of such a blatant display of what had to be the most naïve woman in the world, or the one with the biggest ego. Either way, he was beginning to get pretty freaked out.

'Midori,' he managed to say, 'I really don't know how to make myself any clearer: this, us, is just a test, please tell me that you understand that.'

The girl looked at him with her huge brown eyes and, after allowing her brow to crease in an almost imperceptive way, she smiled again before nodding a couple of times.

'I understand. You need to promise me one thing though,' she said.

'What?' Bunta dared to ask.

'In these two weeks, you won't mention that ever again. You've got no idea how bad it makes me feel that I had to beg you to go out with me,' Midori said and, for the first time in the whole conversation Bunta felt that she was being sincere.

'Alright,' he said, 'I won't mention it. But you will tell me before showing up like this, okay? Besides, what did you tell your parents as an excuse to come all the way here?'

'Oh silly,' she replied patting his left leg with her right hand, 'they don't know I'm here. They think I've gone to visit a friend of mine in Tokyo.'

'And they believed you?' Bunta asked, feeling horribly conscious of the fact that she hadn't removed her hand from the top of his thigh, finding it even more disturbing that he was enjoying the tingling sensation it caused every time he went to press the clutch.

'My parents will believe anything I tell them,' she replied.

'They must trust you a lot,' Bunta commented.

'They do,' she said.

'You should treasure that trust,' Bunta said, once more realising that he was talking with a woman who was supposed to be older than he was. His remark was rewarded with a little squeeze by Midori's hand on his leg. He removed his gaze from the road ahead of him to look at the girl who seemed to be staring at him almost adoringly.

'Bunta,' she said softly, 'you're such a wise man. That's what I like the most about you.'

With both of his cheeks getting rather hot, Bunta chose to return his attention to the road, feeling eternally grateful that his beloved car had almost taken them all the way to the lake. Soon he'd be out of the car and he hoped that some fresh air would clear his mind. He didn't know what Midori did to him but, whatever it was, it could make him lose control dangerously fast.

'This is so beautiful!' he heard her say the minute he parked the car right next to the small docking area where a few boats were tied up to short wooden poles. The rest of them were seen cruising across the lake and, for some reason, he hoped that Midori wouldn't mention hiring one of them for he was terrified of what could happen if... 'Bunta,' she said interrupting his train of thought, 'shall we go to that restaurant over there?'

'A-alright,' Bunta agreed realising only too late that she had chosen one of the restaurants which used the tofu made by the Fujiwara Tofu Shop. Oh well, he thought, even if the owner said anything to anyone, he doubted the gossip would spread all the way to Midori's hometown, after all, Yokohama was pretty far away from Shibukawa.

It wasn't until three hours after that that Bunta managed to drive them all the way to the train station, via the Tachibana's petrol one, so that Midori could retrieve her car. If he wanted to be honest, he had actually enjoyed being with her and, despite the fact that he still felt a bit uneasy with her, he thought that these two weeks weren't going to be the hell he had expected.

'I wish I didn't have to go,' she said while the two were still inside the 2000GT which was now parked right next to the tiny Consorte.

'We'll see each other tomorrow,' Bunta reminded her.

'I know,' she replied smiling happily, 'I can't wait!' she exclaimed and, seeing his smile falter a bit, she added, 'don't worry: I know for a fact that Takashi won't be home and my father's at the office all day.'

'What about your mum?' he asked.

'It's Thursday, it's the day she goes shopping,' Midori explained, 'she'll be out as well.'

Bunta nodded to that and was about to get out of the car when Midori stopped him by grabbing his arm. He turned his head round to look at her inquisitively and was surprised to see that she seemed to be flustered about something. He found that the slightly pink blush which covered her cheeks made her look even more beautiful.

'This Saturday,' she suddenly said, 'I was thinking of doing something extra special.'

He felt his stomach go cold with panic.

'This Saturday?' he asked her.

'Yes,' she replied, 'I know you've got a race, Yuuichi-kun told me, but I thought that, you know…if you win…'

Bunta felt his heartbeat increasing at an alarmingly fast rate. He even forgot to get mad with Yuuichi for telling Midori about the race. Instead, he said:

'…if I win?'

Midori gave a short, light laugh then she removed her hand from Bunta's arm and, without saying anything else, the girl climbed out of the car forcing Bunta to follow her as she walked towards her car. Unfortunately for Bunta, Midori just kissed him full on his lips before climbing into the Consorte, rolling the window down before turning the little car's engine on.

'I'll see you tomorrow,' she said waving at him while she drove her car out of the parking space, leaving Bunta there observing the confidence the girl seemed to have even behind the steering wheel of a car.

It took him a good five minutes before he realised that he really needed to get back to preparing the 2000GT, not to mention the fact that he was already late for his part time job at Nitta-san's repair shop and, even though he managed to get back into the Toyota, he couldn't stop thinking about what Midori had in store for him in case he won for, Midori being the kind of girl he thought she was, it could only mean one thing…

'Kogashiwa,' Bunta said speaking to himself, 'there's absolutely no way I'm going to lose.'

_To be continued…_


	43. Chapter Forty Two

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Forty Two_

There were a few things Bunta noticed when he arrived at the Akina pass' car park that Saturday at nine o'clock in the evening: one, the construction company in charge of making it bigger had, at long last, finished their work; two, there were an even bigger amount of people than usual at the galleries and; three, Yuuichi was there.

For this reason, as soon as he stepped out of his car, Bunta walked towards his best friend and, placing both of his hands over his hips, he said:

'What in the heck are you doing in here? I thought you were supposed to be on your way to Osaka.'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi began, scratching the tip of his nose, almost like if he were a small boy caught doing something naughty, 'well, I kind of wanted to be here since it's your last race and all.'

'What about Fuka?' a stony faced Bunta insisted, refusing to let Yuuichi see how relieved he was for having his best friend's support during what was going to be his very last street race. He was so determined to hide his true feelings that he missed Masashi's arrival which, luckily, saved Yuuichi from having to explain himself.

'Hey,' the Akina Firebolts' leader said, 'here's the man everybody's been waiting to see! Ready to impress everyone with your god-sent skills?'

'Watch it,' Bunta said grinning cockily, 'you're going to make me blush.'

That was followed by a fit of laughter from everyone present, Bunta forced himself to laugh too, hoping that this would help him feel a little bit less nervous because, for the first time in a long while, he felt slightly less confident than usual and that, for some reason, made him feel rather uneasy.

'Hey,' Yuuichi said, using up the chance most people were busy making predictions about at which point of the race Bunta would make Kogashiwa eat dirt, 'is everything alright?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'just eager to get this thing done.'

'Well,' Yuuichi said, 'Masashi-san's told me you guys have done everything you could to that car of yours.'

'We did,' Masashi replied instead of Bunta, joining in the conversation, 'it was a pity we couldn't find those new cylinder heads though.'

'Yes it was,' Bunta agreed, 'but even if we had found them, I don't think I could have afforded them after spending so much money on the set of Weber units, the stabilisers, the suspensions and the new tyres.'

'True,' Masashi said and he was about to add something else when he realised that both Bunta and Yuuichi were staring at a car which was now coming into the parking area, 'oh no…what in the heck is that guy doing in here?'

Willing to find out for himself, Bunta left his friends behind and, walking towards the black Porsche 911, he readied himself for yet another nasty confrontation with his new team mate when, to his utter astonishment, he saw that the set of legs which swung out of the car were most definitely not Takashi's.

'Mi-Midori,' he stuttered, 'wh-what are you doing in here?'

'Surprise!' the girl said smiling happily, 'I told you I wasn't going to miss the race.'

'B-but,' Bunta said, fighting with himself in order to regain his ability to speak normally, 'th-that's, that's your brother's car.'

'So?' Midori asked, as though as if that piece of information was inconsequential, 'it's not like if he's going to notice I took it.'

'He won't?' Yuuichi asked, voicing the very question Bunta was about to ask and making his and Masashi's presence known.

'Nope,' Midori replied, shaking her head a couple of times, sending her shiny, straight hair flying, 'he's taken the Mercedes tonight. He said something about having a date with this girl and, I know my little brother well enough to know that when he's taking a girl out with the Mercedes he's not going to be home till breakfast time.'

Bunta bit his tongue to stop himself from expressing how very sorry he felt for the poor girl. At any rate, Midori's arrival had managed to make him feel a little less anxious about the race. Maybe it was because he hoped that Midori wasn't planning on going back home before breakfast time either or, at least, he hoped so.

'Anyway,' Midori said, 'where's that guy you're racing against?'

'He hasn't shown up yet,' Bunta replied, 'but it's still early.'

'Oh well,' Midori said, hooking her arm around Bunta's, 'why don't you show me around then? Maybe you can introduce me to a few of your friends.'

'Alright,' Bunta replied and, with that, he left his friends behind for the second time that night. He and Midori had just taken a couple of steps when the girl stopped then, turning round, she threw the Porsche's keys to Yuuichi and, using her sweetest tone of voice, she said:

'Yuuichi-kun, be a darling and lock that car up for me, alright?'

She then turned back to look at Bunta and, tugging his arm just a bit, she made them reassume their walk around the car park, stopping every now and then, every time Midori saw something that caught her interest, asking Bunta a few questions while finding an excuse to get closer to him.

'What's going on between those two?' Masashi asked Yuuichi.

'Don't ask me,' Yuuichi replied, 'I promised I wouldn't say a thing.'

Masashi let out a short, disbelieving laugh as Yuuichi realised that he had all but given away his best friend's 'supposedly' secret relationship with the girl who, not only was three years his senior but also the daughter of his racing team's boss.

'Well,' he heard Masashi say, 'there's one thing I have to admit: Bunta's tastes in women are as good as they are when it comes to cars.'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi replied, 'Masashi-san,' he felt the need to add, 'don't tell anybody. It's kind of like a secret.'

'Yeah, right,' Masashi said, injecting a large dose of sarcasm, 'I can see how much effort they're both putting into keeping it so.'

Yuuichi was about to reply to that when, not too far away from there, they heard the beautiful, yet powerful roar of a finely tuned engine. He didn't need Masashi to tell him that the engine belonged to the dark blue Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R driven by Bunta's biggest and fiercest rival yet.

'Kogashiwa's here,' Masashi said unnecessarily.

A few meters ahead of Yuuichi and Masashi, Bunta, who up to then had been trying to keep Midori amused, also heard the I6 cylinder S20 engine and, getting very serious all of a sudden, snatched his arm from Midori's grasp and started walking back to where his friends were, leaving the girl with no option but to follow him.

'He's half an hour early,' Yuuichi commented, seeing Bunta there.

'He must be eager to get bashed,' Masashi said, giving his work colleague a reassuring grin, 'brighten up Bunta: you're going to beat the crap out of him, as usual.'

Bunta didn't say anything; he just kept a straight face while he waited for the Nissan to show up. Kogashiwa arrived there just a few instants later and, by the looks of it, he had been doing quite a lot of work to the car.

'What the heck is that?' Yuuichi asked seeing the huge, brand new spoiler that came out from the back of Kogashiwa's Skyline.

'No idea,' Bunta said, feigning disinterest, 'maybe he wants his car to fly or something.'

Masashi and Midori laughed softly at that, stopping the second Kogashiwa stopped his car, climbing out of it and heading straight for Bunta, not even bothering to acknowledge the very small group of his fans who had been waiting for him the entire evening.

'So,' Kogashiwa said, 'you're already here.'

'Of course,' Bunta replied, 'where else did you want me to be?'

'I don't know,' Kogashiwa replied, 'I thought you'd be too busy pretending to be a great racer to show up.'

'Hey,' Masashi started, only to stop seeing the little wave Bunta made with his hand, even Midori seemed to be less than impressed by Kogashiwa's behaviour. Bunta, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the confrontation.

'Kogashiwa,' he said coolly, 'you're right. I don't have all that much time so, what do you say if we get things started?'

Instead of taking offence, Kogashiwa smiled in a very dangerous way and, nodding a couple of times, he pointed at his car making a slight gesture with his head and said:

'Fujiwara, that baby and I have a few surprises for you. Mark my words, tonight Akina will see your first defeat. I hope you're ready for it.'

Bunta let out a short, dry laugh. Then, giving his back to Kogashiwa, he started walking away from him and towards his beloved Toyota.

'You know,' he said provokingly, 'you really need to change your line: it's getting old.'

This time Kogashiwa didn't even bother to find some equally nasty remark to reply with, instead, he just made his way back to his car, not before making sure he got an eyeful of the girl standing next to Yuuichi and Masashi.

'Hey babe,' he said to Midori, 'what do you say if after the race we go somewhere?'

Midori looked startled for a second, she then smiled very sweetly.

'Sure,' she said, batting her eyelashes a couple of times before adding, 'in your wildest dreams.' Her smile gone, she started walking after Bunta who, in the meantime, had already reached his car. Kogashiwa saw that and, making an angry scowl, closed the short gap which separated him from his Skyline, climbing back into it and slamming the door with a lot more strength that it was really needed.

'Wow,' Yuuichi gasped, 'as if that guy needed to be any more pissed off with Bunta.'

'Yeah,' Masashi agreed, 'listen, I'm going to drive up so I can check that everybody is where they should be. Yuuichi, I know you're not one of the Firebolts, at least not officially but, please take care of things in here, okay?'

'Sure,' Yuuichi said taking one of the portable radios the team owned from Masashi's left hand. In the right one, the older guy had another two sets.

Ten minutes later, Yuuichi stood in front of the two cars, having just received confirmation that everything was ready for this uphill battle to start. The vehicles had been placed just up the car park, at the bottom of the short but steep road which led to the widest section of the road, the one where there were three lanes instead of just two.

Yuuichi spared a few seconds trying to see if he made out Bunta's face but, alas, the slightly tinted windscreen prevented him from seeing anything. Only goodness knew how his friend could cope with the amount of pressure that he had resting on his shoulders…

'Alright,' he shouted, 'start your engines!'

A twin roaring sound deafened everyone's cries and cheers and, for a moment, everything, including the air itself, seemed to come to an abrupt stop. Yuuichi wasn't even breathing when he thrust his right arm up and, for this reason, he was short of breath when he started the countdown.

'GO!' he shouted at the same time he lowered his arm and, predictably, both the Toyota and the Nissan darted past him so fast that he fell on the ground, 'not again!' he complained, checking the palms of his hands for any damage.

Meanwhile, Bunta and Ken Kogashiwa were fighting to get to the top of the brief uphill section before the other one did. It only took a handful of seconds for Bunta to realise that, whatever Kogashiwa had done to his car, had put it way past the 160 hp the stock engine gave. Heck, it probably was above the 190hp both he and Masashi had managed to squeeze out of the Toyota's two litre engine after many hours of work.

'Don't worry,' Bunta said to himself. Power was important while going uphill but, so was skill and aerodynamics and those were two things that both he and the 2000GT certainly had. Pushing his initial panic aside, Bunta slammed his foot onto the accelerator, adopting an exit line which, with a bit of luck, would allow him to get ahead.

Kogashiwa, somehow sensing the manoeuvre, decided to close in towards Bunta's car thus preventing him from doing what he had planned. Because of this, both the Nissan and the Toyota ended up making it to the first corner of the pass with their cars perfectly lined up and with just a handful of centimetres from one another.

'Shit,' Bunta muttered. Unless he pushed Kogashiwa outwards he would miss the ideal entry line of this corner and, with that, he would end up having to either break or risking a collision. Neither option looked appealing to him but, at the end of the day, he chose the less harmful of the two.

'Yes!' Kogashiwa shouted, finally able to take the lead of the race, 'now, let's make him disappear from your rear view mirror,' he added talking to his car's steering wheel.

If Bunta had thought that the Skyline was a lot more powerful than it had been during their previous race, he got confirmation of this fact when, as soon as Kogashiwa was free to do so, he accelerated so much that, even before Bunta had the time to realise there was a good half a meter separating both cars.

'Shit,' Bunta repeated then, as Eikichi had instructed him countless times, he started forcing himself to breath at a slower pace all the while he fought to recover from the shock of having witnessed such a blatant display of power.

Back at the base, Yuuichi saw yet another car coming into the car park and this time, the new arrival made him smile for neither he nor anyone else there had seen that white Toyota Celica GTV in a very long time.

'Hey,' Shinobu Aihara, the former leader of the Akina Firebolts said, 'has it started already?'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi replied, 'they just took off.'

'Crap,' Shinobu said, 'I told my wife I had to leave earlier but she said there was no point…'

'Sorry,' Yuuichi said, 'they started a good half an hour before they were supposed to.'

'This Bunta,' Shinobu said, 'never sticks to the rules, does he?'

'Not really,' Yuuichi replied and, for some reason, that made him steal a quick look at Midori, 'Shinobu-san, how did you find out about this race?'

'Masashi told me,' Shinobu replied, 'he said that it was Bunta's last so, even if I said I wouldn't come back to this kind of events ever again, I couldn't miss this one. How are things going?'

'Don't know,' Yuuichi replied, 'the mid-point report hasn't come in yet.'

'Oh well,' Shinobu commented, 'knowing Bunta, he'll probably be there before we know it.'

Yuuichi, unable to find anything to say, limited himself with giving the former local street racing hero a nod and, while he did so, he realised that Shinobu-san's face looked a lot less boyish than it used to, now, it looked a lot more…serene. So, was that what marriage did to a man? He couldn't wait to experience married life with Fuka.

While Yuuichi's thoughts travelled all the way to Osaka, Bunta was busy trying to come up with a valid strategy which would put him ahead of the Nissan before both cars made it to the first of the five hairpins.

Sighing in frustration when he saw that his best efforts had only granted him one thing: he hadn't lost sight of the Skyline yet, a meagre consolation, considering that Kogashiwa's lines were sharper than ever and that, so far he hadn't shown any weakness.

'Great,' Bunta smirked.

No matter, no matter, he could almost hear his uncle Eikichi say. There was still plenty of time. They hadn't even reached the mid-point of the race. He could still pull it off and, he had finally figured out how to do it. He had never tried it during an uphill race but, if it worked downhill…

He drove into the first hairpin keeping the Toyota's front bumper as close as possible to the Skyline, leaving the tight corner just a couple of centimetres away from the Nissan. He then did the same thing in hairpins two and three, making sure Kogashiwa fell into a false sense of security.

'Now!' Bunta whispered half way through the fourth hairpin, one that turned leftwards. With a light touch onto the break pedal, he turned the steering wheel all the way towards the inside of the corner since the outside one was currently occupied by his opponent and, a bit before Kogashiwa realised what was happening, Bunta hooked the left hand side tyres of his car onto the gutter.

He had used this strategy to enter the corners before but, this time, he wanted to use it to exit the hairpin, hoping that the extra traction would put him, if not ahead, at least at the same level than the Skyline. He managed to do just that and, knowing that using the same trick again with Kogashiwa wouldn't work, he choose to surprise Kogashiwa by using his rival's preferred driving style.

Since he had had the inside of the leftwards hairpin, he would now have the outside of the following one and, driving by grip rather than drift, he managed to clear the corner just ahead of Kogashiwa.

'YES!' a ecstatic Bunta shouted, allowing himself a very brief instant of exultation but, being as acutely aware that Kogashiwa could overtake him whenever he wanted, Bunta returned his full attention to the race, making sure that, this time, he was the one closing all the gaps.

Meanwhile Kogashiwa, unable to believe his eyes, shook his head and, talking to himself, he said:

'Alright then, I guess I'll have to use your full potential.'

He then put all his weight onto the accelerator pedal, feeling the car shudder very lightly with the sudden, unexpected rush of power its owner had just forced into the engine. Smiling to himself, Kogashiwa wondered how Bunta would feel if he knew about the special tuning he had done to his GT-R.

A few corners later, the two cars dashed past the corner where Yamada, among a few others stood, ready to enjoy the show. Yamada, who was one of the race's officials, almost dropped the very expensive radio set he was supposed to use to inform both Masashi and Yuuichi about the race's current standings.

'Masashi, this is the mid-point report,' he said, 'Bunta's ahead. I repeat: Bunta's ahead!'

'See?' Masashi shouted happily to everyone who, like him, was waiting for Bunta at the top of the pass, 'I told you!'

Down at the base, Yuuichi wanted to join into the sudden cheer of happiness that the news had ensued but, prudence told him to hold on the end of the race for, it was way too early for any celebrations. Oddly enough, Midori also kept her face straight and, for once, she looked very serious.

'Midori-san,' Yuuichi said, 'are you alright?'

'Yes,' she said, 'I just want this to finish. Bunta and I have plans for after the race.'

'Do you, now?' Shinobu asked her and Yuuichi's brain started trying to figure out an excuse when Midori said:

'Of course we do, he's my boyfriend…'

Yuuichi felt his jaw drop. So much for keeping their relationship a secret!

'…but apparently he doesn't want anybody to know,' she added, her face illuminating itself with one of her sweet smiles. She then winked an eye to Shinobu and said, 'I guess it's quite a lot of fun for him…but I don't mind if his friends know.'

While both Shinobu and Yuuichi exchanged a startled look, a lot further up the road Bunta was beginning to be in serious trouble. Not only he hadn't managed to put any useful distance between his and Kogashiwa's car but, on the contrary, the dark blue Nissan seemed to be able to keep up with him almost effortlessly.

Feeling his panic raise once again, he hesitated for just an instant before doing the very thing Masashi had told him not to do: he completely floored the accelerator, forcing the 2000GT's engine to give him all it had and, fortunately, it seemed to work.

Glancing at the rear view mirror, he saw the Skyline's four headlights become smaller. Now that they were approaching the end of the uphill race, with the fastest section of the road coming up and with a lot of luck, he could still win this race.

He hadn't completed this thought when something odd happened. They were currently cruising along one of the rare straights of Akina when, all of a sudden, he felt the accelerator pedal shake under his foot. Then, the whole car shuddered and the needles at the dashboard dropped all at the same time.

Bunta's stomach got heavy with anger, fear and disappointment while his brain understood what had happened: the 3M-I6 engine had just blown up.

The race was over.

_To be continued…_


	44. Chapter Forty Three

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Forty Three_

Because of the cloud of smoke which was copiously coming out from under the boot's cover, a completely devastated Bunta could only see a dark blue blur as Kogashiwa's car first dodged, overtook and then sped past the broken-down 2000GT, forcing the nineteen year old to become aware of the fact that the Toyota's engine had been ruined beyond repair.

This very thought got him so upset that he had to use all of his willpower not to burst into tears.

Slowly, he turned the now useless ignition key, removing it and throwing it on top of the passenger's seat before placing a shaky hand onto the door's small lever so that he could get it open. Then, feeling his body heavy with sorrow, Bunta got out of the car and braced himself before he could even see the real extent of the damage.

He hadn't even reached the front of his car when, a few meters ahead of where he was, he saw the GT-R parked over to the side of the road and its driver walking downhill towards him. Instinctively, Bunta tightened his fists, getting ready in case he needed to punch his rival, something he would gladly do at the slightest trace of mockery.

'Are you alright?' Kogashiwa asked him instead, sounding so genuinely concerned that it made Bunta loosen up his fists while his jaw dropped in astonishment.

'Yeah,' Bunta croaked.

'Ouch,' a frowning Kogashiwa gasped, pointing at the smoke which was slowly dissipating into the evening's air, 'that doesn't look pretty.'

'You've won,' Bunta managed to say though clenched teeth, each word filling him with a very bitter sensation: of all the people he could have lost to, it had to be this guy, he thought desperately.

'No I haven't,' was Kogashiwa's surprising remark, 'you're engine blew up and, I kind of cheated.'

'You've what?' Bunta exclaimed. His fists tightened once again so obviously that even Kogashiwa thought it safe to take a couple of steps away from him.

'I've got a confession to make,' he explained quickly, 'my car,' he added pointing a thumb at the Nissan parked up the hill, 'it's been heavily modified.'

'So has mine,' Bunta almost barked, 'what's your point?'

'You don't understand,' Kogashiwa insisted, 'when I say that it's been modified, I really mean it. I've had it professionally prepared for my next endeavour.'

'Explain yourself,' an increasingly confused Bunta ordered.

'I'm going to enter the Japanese Rallying Championship as a wildcard,' Kogashiwa announced, 'for this reason, I've had the whole car lightened, the chassis' been stiffened and the engine's been swapped with a racing one so, in short, my car's way ahead of yours, at least technically and power-wise. That's why I said I've kind of cheated.'

Bunta observed his opponent for a short time, his confounded brain trying to decide whether to laugh, cry, get madder or do all three things at the same time. Ultimately, he decided to let out a shaky breath and, closing his eyes for a bit, he pinched the bridge of his nose with his left hand, remaining like this for several minutes.

'Fujiwara,' Kogashiwa started.

'Listen,' Bunta interrupted, lifting his head and looking at his rival with a determinate expression now replacing his confused one from earlier, 'don't make me say it again: you've won, I've lost. Regardless of what you've done to the car, I've blown it. Quite literally.'

'That's the point,' Kogashiwa insisted, 'you've blown your engine because you tried your best to keep up with a car with racing-specs and it's precisely because of that that I will never feel like I've won.'

'Kogashiwa,' Bunta said, only to be stopped by his rival who, putting his hand up, he said:

'I won't be satisfied until I've beaten you fair and square so I've got a proposition for you.'

'Kogashiwa, I'm retiring from street racing.'

'Yeah, right,' Kogashiwa snorted, his voice loaded with disbelief. He then turned around waving at the whole area and, looking back at Bunta, he smiled confidently and said, 'you know we'd both miss it if we were to retire forever so what I'm saying is this: for the time being, we'll concentrate our energy on our racing careers but, what do think if we postpone settling our grudge for after we've made it into professionalism?'

For the second time that night Bunta remained silent while he stared at Kogashiwa, carefully examining his long-time rival's expression, unable to find any sign which would tell him that the guy was being anything but honest. For this reason, Bunta drew a long breath before, with all the solemnity that the occasion called for, nodding a couple of times.

'Fine,' he finally said, 'it's not like I can race you anytime soon anyway,' he added indicating the poor 2000GT making a tiny movement with his head.

'Hey,' Kogashiwa said almost jokingly, 'maybe it's a sign of destiny which is trying to tell you to get rid of it.'

'What?' Bunta exclaimed, sounding both angry and scandalised.

'Why not?' a suddenly sobered up Kogashiwa asked, 'it's a great sports car and all but, let's face it, since they made so few of them, the parts for that car are really difficult to find and horribly expensive. For what it's going to cost you to replace the engine and fix the whole thing up, you could very well buy yourself a brand new car.'

'No way,' Bunta hissed, preventing the very idea of replacing his beloved Toyota from polluting his brain despite the fact that, as much as he hated to admit it, what Kogashiwa said made perfect sense, 'I'm going to try and fix it.'

'Fujiwara, you really should consider…'

'I said no!' Bunta exclaimed, anger finally getting the best of him, 'I'll fix it.'

It was then Kogashiwa's turn to stare at Bunta's stubborn expression, shaking his head in defeat.

'Fair enough,' he ultimately said, 'it's your car and your life. At any rate, I'll probably be too busy to keep up with your career so, whenever you feel ready, you know where to find me.'

Bunta nodded and, with that, Kogashiwa turned round and started climbing the short hill, walking back towards his car. Half way there, he stopped and, looking at Bunta's direction, he said:

'I'll drive all what's left of the uphill and warn that friend of yours about what's happened. You'll probably need a truck to tow that back to a garage.'

'Thanks,' Bunta forced himself to say for, truth be told, he was actually grateful that Kogashiwa, contrary to what he'd believed ever since their first encounter, wasn't a complete asshole. Perhaps meeting a spoilt little brat like Takashi Itachi had thrown a whole new light on Kogashiwa.

He stood there, watching the taillights of the Nissan disappearing around a corner then, instead of checking the blown up engine, he decided to go back inside the car and wait there for Masashi and whoever else came to the rescue, trying very hard not to think about what had just happened.

Less than ten minutes later, he heard no less than two engines coming his way and, looking up over the dashboard, he saw a few people walking towards him, as well as several sets of headlights coming from both the up and the downhill.

Stubbornly, Bunta chose to remain inside the 2000GT until he saw Masashi and Yuuichi making their way to the driver's side of the car and, only then, Bunta opened the door to, yet again, step out of the Toyota.

'Bunta…'

'I'm fine Yuuichi,' he hurried to say, feeling very guilty seeing the anxious look on his best friend's face.

'Kogashiwa told us,' Masashi said, pointing at the 2000GT.

'Yeah,' Bunta said and was about to try and laugh it off when, a very loud squeal made him look towards the crowd which, embarrassingly enough, was growing in numbers. As it happened, the source of the squeal was none other than Midori who, if possible, looked even more distressed than Yuuichi.

'Baby!' she exclaimed while she flung her arms around Bunta's neck, 'you're not hurt, are you?' she then asked, her voice sounding muffled against the chest of a positively mortified Bunta who, with all the care he could muster, tried removing himself from the boa constrictor-like hug, succeeding after a couple of tries.

'I'm fine,' he repeated, this time sounding a little less convincing for, in reality, he felt like running away from there as fast as he could.

'Oh, thank goodness!' Midori exclaimed, her voice now filled with relief. She, once again, managed to impress Bunta with her amazing skills when it came to having severe mood-swings. In fact, her face was now lit up with a smile, 'I would have hated it if anything had happened to you…'

'I'm fine, seriously,' Bunta insisted, 'the car isn't though.'

'What's wrong with it?' Midori asked, completely oblivious to the fact that Yuuichi, Masashi and everyone else who was there, were all staring at both her and Bunta with an indecent amount of curiosity.

'The engine's blown,' Bunta explained, using such a patient tone of voice that it would have put to shame the best Tibetan monk.

'Is that all?' Midori asked, lifting her pretty eyebrows as though as she was surprised that everyone was making such a huge deal about something she clearly deemed as negligible, 'sweetie, I thought it was something a lot worse that that.'

Bunta's jaw dropped again and, at long last, he simply ran out of energy. Masashi, realising that Bunta probably lacked the strength to do so, took it upon himself to explain the situation to Midori by pointing out that replacing a car's engine was probably the most expensive thing one could do to a car.

'That's not a problem,' Midori said, giving a little wave with her manicured hand.

'It is,' Masashi carried on, 'you see, finding an engine which would suit a car like the 2000GT will be very difficult and, well, it will be very, very expensive.'

'No it won't be,' Midori insisted stubbornly, 'I only have to make a phone call.'

Seeing Bunta's darkening expression made Yuuichi interpose himself between his best friend and the girl then, looking at her beautiful face, he said:

'Let's not discuss this now, alright, I'm sure Bunta wants to take the car down to Nitta-san's shop and…'

'Ah no,' Midori said, 'that won't do. I have plans for tonight.'

Bunta felt his face grow hot as he suddenly remembered the not-so-veiled promise Midori had made to him in case he won the race. Yet again and despite what Kogashiwa had said, he had effectively lost the race so Midori's comment just sent him into a brand new state of confusion.

'Midori,' he tried, 'I've lost the race.'

'That's not what Kogashiwa said,' Masashi said.

'It doesn't matter if you've lost,' Midori said, 'I still have plans for us,' she added then, she glanced at both Masashi and Yuuichi and using the kind of smile that usually got her everything she wanted, she said, 'you don't exactly need him to take the car to that shop you mentioned, do you?'

'Well, we…' Masashi started.

'Midori,' Bunta said, 'I think I'd like to take care of the car myself.'

'Why?' a disappointed looking Midori asked.

'Well,' Bunta said, 'to begin with, it's my car and, you know, it's just...' he stopped speaking just as Midori started pouting, making her look like a five-year old little girl. Reminding himself of what was at a stake, he hesitated for a bit then, trying to curve his lips into a smile, he said, 'alright, how about if we take the car there, then we can go and…well…do whatever it is that you've planned for us?'

He then stared at her trying not to look as hopeful as he felt and, to his immense relief, Midori suddenly smiled again.

'Alright,' she said, 'let's hurry up then, it's getting late and we're going to need a truck.'

'Hey,' Masashi cut her off, 'we've got one of those at the shop, I'll drive down now so I can get it up here as soon as possible.'

'Good boy,' Midori said patting Masashi on his face in a way that made the poor guy blush so much that he only managed to mumble something that was trying to be an 'I'll see you later guys.' Bunta and Yuuichi tried to repress a chuckle and, for the first time, Bunta became aware of the fact that Midori's less than normal behaviour seemed to have the ability to make him forget about anything that was even remotely negative.

While they waited for Masashi to come back, Yuuichi, with the help of a few of the Akina Firebolts and Shinobu-san, managed to persuade the crowd to head back to their cars and leave. The show, after all, was over and there wasn't anything left for them to see.

In the end, it didn't take them more than half an hour to get the car onto the truck and all the way down to Nitta-san's shop where, aside Yuuichi, Shinobu, Masashi and Midori, there wasn't anyone else there who could witness the heartbreaking moment when Bunta covered the car with one of the grease-stained sheets they saved for those cars, the work of which would take a really long time to get done.

'Don't worry,' Midori said with a low voice, 'I'll take care of this.'

'Midori…'

'Shush,' she said placing a finger over his lips, 'Yuuichi-kun's right: let's not talk about this. Now, I think there's not much else you guys can do now, is there?'

'No,' Masashi replied, 'we just have to lock up,' he added shaking his copy of the shop's set of keys.

'Good,' Midori said, 'then, if you don't mind, I'll be borrowing Bunta for a while.'

Without waiting for the reply from any of the three guys present, Midori hooked her arm around Bunta who, knowing better than to try and argue with the girl, just followed her towards where the black Porsche was parked, just outside Nitta-san's repair shop.

'Pinch me,' Shinobu instructed, talking to Masashi while they watched the couple climb into the car, with Bunta diligently sliding onto the passenger's seat.

'Come again?' Masashi asked.

'Are you sure that's Bunta?' Shinobu asked back, the startled look on his face visible despite the surrounding darkness, 'I mean, from all of us, I would have never thought Bunta to be one who would allow a girl to boss him around like that.'

'Hey,' Yuuichi said defensively, 'don't underestimate Midori-san.'

'Yeah,' Masashi agreed, 'that girl's…I don't know…she just…'

'Let's put it this way,' Yuuichi said, 'she'd sell a fridge to an Eskimo.'

Shinobu looked at his two life-long friends before letting out a very low whistling sound then, shaking his head, he smiled and said:

'Bunta's in big trouble.'

'You've got no idea,' Masashi and Yuuichi said at the same time. That made the three friends burst out laughing and, for a moment there, all of them forgot about the badly damaged car which was parked just a few meters away from them.

Meanwhile, not far from there, Midori was quietly driving her younger brother's Porsche across Shibukawa when Bunta, probably feeling very uneasy because of the silence, decided to try and break it.

'I'm sorry I lost,' he said.

'You didn't lose,' Midori replied, 'you heard what that Mitsuri friend of yours said.'

'Masashi,' Bunta corrected her, 'his name's Masashi.'

'Whatever, he did say that the guy you raced against didn't think you'd lost,' she said, 'besides, it doesn't really matter.'

'Well,' Bunta started, raking his brain to choose the words carefully, 'I thought your plans involved me winning the race.'

'They did,' Midori admitted, 'but it doesn't matter now. I think you deserve some sort of reward, after what's happened to your car.'

'R-reward?' he tried not to stutter, as well as not sound too hopeful.

'Yes,' Midori replied, her voice getting all husky, or maybe it was just Bunta's overactive imagination? Since it didn't look like she was going to elaborate, he decided to test his luck a bit more.

'So, what's the reward?'

Midori sighed before replying.

'You know, originally, I had planned on letting you drive this car around that mountain pass of yours…'

Bunta felt like someone had dropped a bucketful of icy water on top of his head. That was the big surprise? What a bitter disappointment, he thought feeling almost as bad as he had felt when he'd blown the 2000GT's engine almost an hour before.

Had it been only one hour? He thought feeling so astounded that he missed the rest of what Midori was telling him. Seeing his lack of reaction made Midori look rather upset and Bunta didn't even know what to reply when she said:

'Well, if you don't want to do it, I understand.'

'No, wait,' Bunta hurried to say, acutely conscious that he ha missed a very important bit of the conversation, 'I'm sorry, I…well, I…my mind…'

'Was somewhere else, obviously,' Midori flatly finished for him.

'I'm really sorry,' Bunta said, 'what is it that you want to do?'

Midori went quiet for a bit making Bunta damn himself for being so stupid then, with a very low voice, the girl repeated what she had said earlier only that, this time, she had Bunta's full attention. He would later feel rather grateful that he hadn't been driving at that time, otherwise he would have crashed the 911 when, rather calmly, she asked him to lead them to the most expensive hotel in the area.

'Mi-Midori,' he stammered, 'I'm sorry if I sound dumb but, are you saying what I think you're saying?'

The girl let out a soft giggle before nodding once.

'Er…' Bunta hesitated, 'are you sure? I mean…'

'Of course,' she said and, her tone of voice convinced him that she seemed to know what she was doing. Yet again, it always looked like she was in perfect control of every situation Bunta thought all the while he started trying to remember of any good hotels in Shibukawa, 'so,' she added, 'where do we go?'

'Er…' Bunta hesitated again, 'I guess we can go to the ryokan near the Ikaho Onsen.'

'Is it nice?' Midori asked him.

'I don't know,' Bunta replied, 'it's only a fifteen minute drive up the mountain so, being so close home, I've never needed to stay there.'

'Of course not,' Midori said, 'well, you can either tell me how to get there or, alternatively, we can switch places and you can drive us there yourself.'

Hearing her almost business-like tone of voice made Bunta realise what they were about to do and, the dormant gentleman he had within himself made him doubt about the legitimacy of the whole deal. After all, they weren't a married couple. Heck, they weren't even a proper one, at least officially speaking.

'Midori,' he started, 'I'm flattered you want us to do…well, you know. But, the thing is, we've been together for less than two weeks and…'

'Bunta,' Midori said, 'I'm in love with you and you fancy me. That's all I need.'

'But…'

'Bunta,' she interrupted him, 'I don't want you to form goodness knows what sort of ideas about me when you'll know this but, unlike for you, this is not going to be my first time so you don't have to worry about it. Now, shall I carry on driving or do you want me to stop somewhere so we can swap?'

Since Midori's words had, once again, managed to leave him speechless, Bunta decided to point at a random spot on the nearly empty street and, after stopping there briefly, they switched sides, spending just a few instants so that Bunta could adjust the seat to his height.

He then set off towards the mountain pass he knew as well as the back of his hand, finding it incredibly odd to be driving such a strange car. Now that he thought of it, it was the very first time in his whole life driving a foreign car and, as cool as the Porsche 911 was, he decided he would stick to domestic cars only.

'This is it?' Midori asked pointing at a beautiful building, built to resemble an old shrine.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied while he parked the German car right outside the ryokan, 'that's it. Is it nice enough?'

'It's small, but cute,' Midori replied. Bunta smiled while he tried to remember exactly how much money he had with him. One thing was for Midori to be so forward regarding the loss of his virginity but, another thing was letting her pay for the room where that would happen so, using the only chance he had, when they were both climbing out of the car, he checked the inside of his wallet feeling immensely relieved to see that he had quite a few notes in there. Hopefully they would be enough.

As it happened, that would probably be the last coherent and rational thought his brain could produce in what was left of the evening since, from the moment they entered the only double room which was available, Midori made sure his brain was too busy to worry about anything else.

Two hours later and with Midori's face snuggling on top of his left shoulder, the fingers of his right hand tangled within her silky hair, he started thinking about everything that had gone on during the evening, deciding that it had been the weirdest, yet most exciting one ever.

Sure, having his car damaged beyond repair was nothing short of catastrophic but, after what Midori and he had just done even something like that seemed to have moved to a second place and Bunta realised, for the first time, the reason why sex could be such a powerful driving force.

'Are you alright?' he heard Midori whisper.

'Yes, I am,' Bunta replied softly, 'you?'

'You know,' Midori said, lifting her head so that she could look at him in the eye, 'if it weren't because I know you're an honest guy, I'd think you'd lied to me about being a virgin.'

'W-what? Why?' a stunned Bunta asked.

Midori put her head back onto his shoulder and, giving him one of her soft giggles, she said:

'Let's just say that driving isn't the only thing you're good at.'

After that, Bunta felt like Christmas had come early and he didn't even mind that he wasn't going to be late for the morning deliveries. Right now, he wanted to enjoy this moment, the rest, would just have to wait.

_To be continued..._


	45. Chapter Forty Four

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Forty Four_

Bunta continued playing with a strand of Midori's silky hair feeling himself getting increasingly drowsy and, just as he turned his head towards the bedside table so that he could fall asleep, he caught a glimpse of the old fashioned alarm clock which had been placed on top of it.

It marked half past three in the morning and, for a very brief instant, Bunta thought nothing of it but, all of a sudden, his all-too-relaxed brain remembered something rather important: if he didn't hurry up he would miss his nightly appointment with Ryo-san…

'Midori,' he half whispered, hoping she was still awake.

'Mm…,' she mumbled sleepily.

'Er…I'm sorry,' he started, 'but…'

'What's wrong?' a fully awake Midori asked, her worried tone made Bunta realise that he had chosen his words very poorly. For this reason, he tried to concentrate and started all over again:

'Look, in less than half an hour I'm supposed to be doing the deliveries.'

'The what?' Midori asked and, this time, she sat on the bed, trying to cover herself with the sheet.

'The deliveries,' he repeated, 'you know that my uncle runs a tofu shop, right?'

'Yes,' she replied.

'Well, we deliver the tofu to a hotel up in the lake and…'

'Bunta,' she interrupted him, sounding half hurt, half disappointed, 'if you want to leave, just leave, don't make up silly excuses so that you…'

'No,' he interrupted her, 'I'm serious. I think I mentioned this to you before, haven't I?'

'No, you haven't,' Midori replied.

'Well, I should have then,' Bunta said, 'because it's true. I swear. Now, I'm really sorry about having to leave, there's nothing I'd like better than to stay here with you so that we can maybe have breakfast together in the….'

He never finished his sentence for Midori, for some reason, decided to silence him with a kiss.

'Okay,' she whispered over his lips, 'I believe you. Give me five minutes so I can get dressed and I'll drive you home.'

'Why don't you stay here?' Bunta suggested, 'I mean, we've paid for the whole night and…'

'Sweetie,' Midori said, 'just how bad do you think it's going to look like if you leave now and I have to leave first thing in the morning _on my own_?'

She had a very good point so Bunta nodded once and with this, both of them got up from the bed they had shared for just a few hours and exactly ten minutes later they were back inside Takashi's Porsche 911, this time with Midori sitting behind the wheel and, as she turned the car's powerful engine on, Bunta remembered his poor 2000GT.

'Bunta,' Midori started, 'what I said earlier, about your car, I meant it.'

He turned his head towards her and, even in the semi-darkness, she saw his confused expression so she decided to elaborate:

'I know someone who I think can help you with your car. I'll speak to him later on today so don't worry about anything, okay?'

'Midori…'

'Hey,' she said, 'it's okay, just leave it to me, okay?'

Bunta noticed that, once again, Midori was using the kind of tone of voice which suggested that she wouldn't accept any kind of negative answer so, giving up, he decided to humour her, at least for the time being.

Less than five minutes after leaving the hotel, Midori stopped the car just outside the tofu shop where Bunta saw Eikichi exiting the shop carrying one of the wooden boxes so that he could load it into the Bellett's trunk. Obviously enough, the older man noticed the black 911 so Bunta had no choice but to step out of the car, with Midori following suit.

'Hello Fujiwara-san,' the girl said waving at Eikichi with a happy smile on her face. The girl was behaving as though as it were normal for anyone to show up at that time of the morning and Eikichi didn't even bother to hide his amusement as well as a large dose of disbelief.

'Good, er…morning, I guess,' the man replied, switching his gaze from Midori to Bunta and then back to Midori before, curving his lips into a smirk, he added, 'Midori-chan, isn't it a bit late?'

'Yes, it is,' Midori said with so much nonchalance that it made Bunta look at her, 'I just wanted to make sure your nephew got back home safely,' she then added and, this time, both Fujiwara sported the same disbelieving expression on their faces.

As usual, it was Eikichi who reacted faster:

'I see,' he said, 'well Midori-chan, thanks a bunch for this. Now,' he continued, this time looking at Bunta, 'where's your car?'

'Er…'

'He had a problem with it,' Midori replied, 'but don't worry about it Fujiwara-san, we'll get it fixed in no time.'

Eikichi, for the first time ever, looked like he was speechless and Bunta, not used to seeing his uncle like that just didn't really know what to do. At any rate, the moment of doubt didn't last very long and Eikichi trained his face so that it wouldn't betray any emotion. For some reason that gave the chills to Bunta.

'Okay,' he heard his uncle say, still looking at Midori, 'I think it's time for you to go home, Midori-chan. Bunta, get in the house, I'll do the deliveries tonight.'

'No!' Bunta exclaimed, 'I…'

'Bunta,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'mine wasn't a suggestion. Get in the house and go to bed.'

Bunta realised that he was in trouble so, deciding that the best thing he could do at that instant was to obey his uncle, he offered a quick nod to Midori who, for once, seemed prone to doing whatever she was told and, within a few moments, Bunta saw the back of the Porsche as the girl started driving it out of the street and towards the main road.

'Let me at least help you with the…'

'Bunta,' Eikichi said, 'I'm not an invalid. I think I can take care of my shop by myself. Now, get some sleep and tomorrow you can tell me all about what's happened tonight, okay?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied for he really had no other option.

Less than fifteen minutes later, a still fully dressed Bunta was laying on top of his bed when he heard Eikichi's Bellett's engine. Once again he got reminded of his own car and started wondering what would Midori do this time.

The funny thing is that he wasn't too worried about that. Right now, he had more pressing matters to deal with like, for instance, what had happened between him and Midori just a few hours before and how that would affect their so-called trial relationship.

'So much for a trial,' he muttered to no one in particular. He was quite afraid of what Midori would expect from him now that their relationship had gone well beyond the platonic phase.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, there was the problem with his car's blown up engine and, more importantly, how Eikichi would react to the news. He only hoped that Midori's solution would be a good one, otherwise...

With a pang, Bunta realised that, for some mysterious reason, he had already started relying on the girl way too much. It was true that he was desperate for there was no way he could get his car fixed as he had insisted. After all, even if he knew where to get one, buying a whole engine for the 2000GT was nearly as expensive as buying a brand new car.

Punching the pillow in a silly attempt at trying to vent up his frustration, he decided to focus on the less grave of his two problems: Midori. Unfortunately, this made him replay inside his head what had just happened between him and the girl, realising fairly soon that this would only make him even more awake.

'Geez…what a mess,' he said and, at long last, he got up, turned the bedside table's light off and, taking his jeans and jumper off, he collapsed onto his bed where he spent a good ten minutes persuading himself to fall asleep.

The morning after, Bunta opened his eyes to find those of his uncle staring at him. This startled him so much that he nearly jumped out of his bed.

'Good morning sleepy-head,' Eikichi said, 'get up, come downstairs and we'll talk.'

Bunta just nodded and, grabbing his trusty old pair of jeans, he put them on and, not bothering with anything else, he just followed his uncle down the stairs and to the house's small kitchen. On the way there he saw that the clock in the living room marked quarter to twelve. He really was getting out of control, he thought feeling super-disappointed in himself.

'Eikichi…'

'What happened to the car?'

Bunta looked down at his socked feet and stayed like that for a handful of seconds then, not wanting to delay the unavoidable for much longer, he looked at his uncle in the eye and said:

'I blew its engine up.'

He had to give it to his uncle: his complete lack of reaction was admirable, if not downright scary. Once again, it seemed as though as Eikichi Fujiwara wasn't a human being.

'I see,' the older man finally said, 'that's the reason why you came back home with Midori-chan.'

'Not entirely,' Bunta said, using a very low tone of voice. Since he had been honest about the car, he decided to be honest about the rest of the night too and, feeling his face get warm with embarrassment, Bunta proceeded to explain to Eikichi about the fact that, after leaving the 2000GT in Nitta-san's garage, he had, finally, joined the 'big boys' club.

'Mmm….' a still pretty much impassive Eikichi said, 'I guess that's the reason why you don't seem to be anywhere near as upset about your car as you ought to be.'

'Eikichi, I…'

'Bunta,' his uncle interrupted him, 'there's only one thing which has me a bit worried.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked, finding it more and more difficult to look at Eikichi's unnaturally blank expression. He knew he had screwed up badly with the 2000GT but what his uncle was doing was making him feel even worse!

'Bunta,' he somehow heard Eikichi say, 'whereas I'm not going to tell you what to do when it comes to Midori-chan, I'm hoping that you won't start relying on her for…'

'No!' Bunta exclaimed, 'listen, what you heard last night…well, I don't know what she's planning on doing but I'm not counting on it at all. I'm the one who blew the engine up and I'm going to be the one fixing the it…and if it's too expensive then…well…I'll figure something out, okay?'

'Bunta…'

'Seriously,' he insisted, 'last night, well, after what happened, I was just trying to humour her, okay? You don't know what she's like.'

'Bunta,' Eikichi repeated and, for the first time since the start of the conversation, he offered him one of his half-smiles, 'she's a woman,' he continued, 'I don't claim to be an expert in the subject but, from what I know, I think I can safely say that sometimes it's useless arguing with them.'

'Sometimes?' Bunta asked sarcastically, 'with Midori it's impossible to argue ALL THE TIME: she just doesn't listen to anything I say,' he added using such a miserable tone of voice that Eikichi couldn't repress a chuckle.

'Good luck with that,' he said then, tousling his nephew's hair, he added, 'let's get some lunch now. I'll leave the shop closed so we can go and take a look at that poor car of yours, okay?'

Eikichi was about to walk towards the small fridge they had in the kitchen when Bunta forced himself to ask:

'That's all?'

'What do you mean?' Eikichi asked him back.

'Well,' Bunta started, 'I blew the 2000GT's engine. And I was late for the deliveries so you had to do them for me.'

'So?'

'Shouldn't you be angrier with me?' Bunta asked, 'I mean, I…'

'Would that get the car fixed?' Eikichi interrupted him. Bunta shook his head, 'would that manage to get the delivery done on time?' Bunta shook his head again, 'well, then what's the point of me getting angry with you? After all, it's not like you blew the engine on purpose, is it?'

'Of course not,' Bunta finally said.

'And as per the deliveries, Bunta I've been doing them for years. Only because you've been helping a bit in these past few months doesn't mean that I rely on you to get them done.'

'Ah…'

'What's the only thing I've always insisted on from day one?' Eikichi asked him, this time crossing his arms over his wide chest.

'Don't depend on others, do everything you can yourself,' Bunta replied.

'Exactly. Now, I don't know you but I'm starving so, let's eat something, okay?'

'Sure,' Bunta said and, with that, both men busied themselves with the making of their lunch.

Almost an hour later, the two Fujiwara were about to leave their house when they heard the phone ringing. Bunta looked at his uncle for a brief instant before running back into the shop so that he could get the receiver.

'Fujiwara Tofu Shop…'

'Bunta?' he heard Yuuichi's worried voice, 'how are you?'

'I'm okay, we're going to Nitta-san's place now, why?'

'Oh, thank goodness for that,' Yuuichi said, 'I thought you…well…you know…'

'I'm okay,' he repeated, 'now.'

'What happened with Midori-chan?' Yuuichi asked all of a sudden.

Bunta chose that moment to hang up. One thing was having to tell Eikichi about the reason why he and Midori had showed up at nearly four o'clock in the morning, another was explaining something as private as that to Yuuichi…

Walking out of the shop he found his uncle already behind the wheel of his Bellett. Eikichi turned its engine on the instant he saw his nephew and, as usual, Bunta enjoyed hearing the beautiful roar which came out of the beautifully kept car.

'Eikichi,' he started the second the two of them were on their way to Nitta-san's shop, 'listen, it probably is impossible but, have you ever…you know.'

'Blown up an engine?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'it's impossible, I…'

'Of course I have,' Eikichi said, 'it's not such an unusual occurrence for anyone who is into racing. After all, we do push the engines beyond what they were designed so it's normal that, every now and then, they give up on us.'

'Ah,' Bunta said.

'That said,' Eikichi felt the need to add, 'it doesn't mean that you can get as careless as to destroy every single car you drive. You still have to be very careful with your ride and make sure that you do everything you can so that the engine, and the rest of the parts, last for as long as possible, okay?'

'Of course,' Bunta said and since Eikichi had been nice enough not to get mad at him, he chose to ignore his uncle's almost patronising tone which made him feel like he was five, not nearly twenty years old. At any rate, Eikichi was right and, at the end of the day even Masashi had warned him that they were pushing the poor 2000GT's engine way too much.

Eikichi drove his car into Nitta-san's repair shop where they found the owner talking to a very worried looking Masashi. The two men looked up seeing the Bellett and Masashi ran towards the car so that he could speak to Bunta the second he climbed out of it.

'Hey man,' he said, 'I've got bad news.'

'What's wrong?' Bunta asked him.

'Bunta,' Nitta-san replied on behalf of Masashi, 'we haven't tried all of my contacts yet but it seems like it's going to be nearly impossible to find a fully operational engine for your car.'

Bunta didn't know what to say and, seeing this, made Masashi say:

'Well, to be honest I thought it would be difficult…after all, they didn't make that many of them and, it's very hard to find them in the scrap yards.'

'But we still haven't tried all of my contacts,' Nitta-san repeated clearly set on being optimistic. Bunta smiled at the poor guy who seemed truly desperate to be of any help. This made Bunta feel even more depressed…all the good, highly distracting memories from the previous night gone.

He had to start facing facts: it was very likely that he would have to sell what was left of his car and hope he would have enough money to get himself a decent enough one. If he used some of his late parents' money maybe he could even try and get a Fairlady Z like the one Masashi drove.

'Let's just go and take a look at it,' Eikichi said and, as usual, everyone just followed the older man to the garage where, the night before, they had left the poor 2000GT. It still was covered with the same greasy sheet Masashi had placed on top of it. With a swift pull, Eikichi got rid of the piece of fabric and then, Bunta saw for the first time the extend of the damage:

While the back of the car seemed fine, there were two very violent, dark marks on both sides of the front of the car. The windscreen was stained with what most likely was oil and the whole lid of the bonnet looked a little higher than usual. It was probably due to the extra pressure it had to cope with the previous night.

'It's not that bad,' he heard Eikichi say and, naturally, that made everyone stare at the old man as though as they all thought he was crazy. Ignoring their stares, he went to the driver's side and, opening the door, he crouched so that he could reach the lever which got the lid open then, he walked back to the front and, opening the lid, he took peek inside and, nodding once, he repeated, 'nope, it's not that bad.'

'Uncle Eikichi,' Bunta said, 'would you please explain yourself?'

'Look,' Eikichi said, 'it's only the engine's block that's burned. The rest of it seems to be fine which means…'

He didn't get to finish the sentence for, right at that instant, they heard the roar of a powerful engine coming towards them. Bunta had only heard that engine a few times but it was more than enough for him to know that it was Takashi's Porsche 911. Which mean that…

'Oh, you're already here,' Midori said smiling at Bunta, while entirely disregarding the other three men who where there too. 'Akio, do come in.'

Bunta then saw a rather tall man in his late twenties step into the garage, looking around himself with the same kind of expression as that of a kid in an amusement park. The newcomer first focused his attention on Bunta then, he stared at the 2000GT and, at long last, he spoke:

'Okay Mi-chan, I now know why you got me out of bed so early this morning.'

'Yes,' Midori said, 'so, can you help my boyfriend?'

Bunta felt his eyes widen then, he squinted them again and looked around himself, giving his uncle, Masashi and Nitta-san the kind of look which begged them not to say anything at all.

'Well,' the guy called Akio said, 'you know that this isn't my area of expertise but, I guess I could make a couple of calls to see if there's anything we can do for…your boyfriend.'

'Good,' a very happy Midori said, 'I knew you wouldn't let me down.'

'Er…' Bunta finally intervened, 'I don't mean to be rude but, who are you?'

'Ah,' Midori gasped covering her mouth with her left hand in a very sexy, yet cute way, 'where are my manners?' she said letting out one of her giggles, 'this,' she continued, 'is Yoshida Akio, he works in the Toyota Testing Department and happens to be a very good friend of mine.'

For some strange reason, Bunta felt like he had just won the lottery.

_To be continued…_


	46. Chapter Forty Five

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Forty Five_

Before anyone had the time to reply to Midori's remark, they saw Yuuichi's Capella entering the repairs shop and, soon enough, Yuuichi himself walked into the garage, looking around till he found Bunta. Then, closing the gap between him and his best friend, he stood in front of Bunta and said:

'Here you are!' he exclaimed and was going to add something else when, at long last, he realised that there was some stranger standing next to the 2000GT, 'er…'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta said, 'this is Yoshida-san, he's a friend of Midori's.'

'Ah,' Yuuichi said, 'nice to meet you,' he then added while offering Yoshida a polite bow who just gave Yuuichi a curt nod. Then, as though as nothing had happened, Yoshida looked at Midori and, not bothering to hide his amusement, he said:

'Mi-chan, I wonder if I could have a quick word with your…boyfriend.'

'Of course you can,' Midori replied and, glancing at everyone, she smiled and said, 'can I get a volunteer to show me around the place?'

Nitta-san and Eikichi seemed to become all flustered while Masashi looked as if he were trying to find somewhere to hide, Yuuichi wasn't faring much better and kept staring at Bunta, probably to see if his best friend would come to the rescue.

Needless to say, Bunta didn't do any such thing for he was having the time of his life seeing that, for once, Midori was ordering around someone else that wasn't him and had a lot of trouble repressing a chuckle as he saw her stepping out of the garage, with all four men following her.

'She's quite something, isn't she?' Yoshida asked, forcing Bunta to pay attention to the guy.

'You've got no idea,' he replied.

'Oh, I do,' Yoshida said, 'trust me. I do.'

Bunta realised a tad too late that Yoshida had been introduced as one of Midori's good friends so, naturally, the guy knew Midori a whole lot better than he did. This made him feel rather stupid so, in order to recover some ressemblance of dignity, he said:

'Yeah, you've known Midori for a long time, right?'

'Not really,' Yoshida replied, 'just a handful of years: enough to know how much trouble she can be when she wants to. But you probably know this by now, after all, you're her new boyfriend.'

For some reason, Bunta didn't quite like the way Yoshida had made that sound. As if he were some sort of trophy, Midori's latest plaything. With a pang, Bunta realised that he probably wasn't much more else than that. For some unknown reason, that kind of hurt Bunta...at any rate, right at that moment, he really didn't have the time to think about this kind of things.

'So,' he said, 'what is it that you do in Toyota?'

'I work in their Testing Department,' Yoshida replied, 'as part of the designing team.'

'Designing?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Yoshida replied, 'my team is the one who is in charge of developing new models for Toyota. We, of course, work closely with the Engineering Department, they're the ones who develop the new engines.'

'Ah,' Bunta gasped, 'er...you said you could try and help…'

'That's right,' Yoshida said.

'Why would you?' Bunta asked, knowing that he was kind of pushing his luck but, somehow, he really needed to know the reason why this Yoshida Akio, a perfect stranger, was so willing to help him.

'There are several reasons,' Yoshida replied, 'to start with, Midori asked me and, she's persuasive enough to convince any man to do whatever she wants,' he continued, confirming one of his worst suspicions: Midori really had an enormous power over any man she targeted and that was a most unsettling thought.

'The other reason,' Yoshida added, 'is that I'm curious.'

'Curious?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Yoshida replied, 'Midori's told me a bit about you. You seem to be quite the racer.'

'Well, I…'

'Good enough to make Takashi-kun so upset as to get defensive.'

'Er…'

'And, that, is what's made me get curious,' Yoshida said, 'I'm not sure the kind of opinion you have about your new team mate but, I've never liked Midori's younger brother.'

Bunta had a lot of trouble trying to keep his face as expressionless as possible.

'…to me, guys like Takashi-kun shouldn't be racing. They're a danger to themselves and to the other racers. The problem is that his parents, and most especially his father, seem to humour him so that he stays out of trouble.'

'You seem to know a lot about the Itachi,' Bunta couldn't help but to say.

'I do,' Yoshida said, 'they almost became my in-laws.'

Bunta almost fell on to the ground and felt lucky that he had been leaning against one of the few spaces void of hanging tools that the wall had. His face probably displayed his utmost shock for Yoshida smiled at him in a very patronising way.

'You really don't know much about your girlfriend, do you?'

'Yoshida-san,' Bunta started, 'Midori and I…well, we've only been seeing each other for a few days.'

'Really?' Yoshida asked and, this time, it seemed like he was the one being surprised. Bunta nodded once and, that made Yoshida say, 'well, then I think that this time Midori really is in love.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked.

'Well,' Yoshida said, 'she's never been this desperate to help any of her boyfriends out. It seems like something about you is making her forget that she's a spoilt little girl.'

He said this using such a caring tone of voice that, instead of an offence, he seemed to be paying Midori a compliment. This confused Bunta even more than he already was.

'I don't know what to say,' he confessed.

'No need to say anything,' Yoshida said, 'I'm surprised though, with you being so young.'

'I'm nineteen,' Bunta interrupted him.

'Right,' Yoshida continued, 'I should know that it was due time Midori found the guy who would force her to become a bit more selfless. I only hope that you will find it in yourself to know how lucky you are.'

'I know I'm lucky,' Bunta said and, for the first time, he started seeing everything Midori did and said under a brand new light. Maybe, just maybe, he had never given her the benefit of the doubt and, because of this, he made it a point to try and be nicer to her.

'Okay,' Yoshida said, 'now that we've got this out of the way, let's focus on this poor thing, shall we?'

Bunta nodded and followed Yoshida around the car's front so that they could look into the mess that the engine's death had caused. Seeing it like this, in the cold daylight made Bunta feel rather horrible and he really felt like crouching next to his 2000GT so that he could apologise to it in every way he knew.

'It doesn't look that bad,' Yoshida said, 'sure we're going to have to work on it a lot but, I think I know the right guy for the job.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked.

'I wonder if you'd be okay with me sending a truck to send this baby into our workshop?' Yoshida asked instead of replying to Bunta's question.

'Er…'

'I mean, I can hardly do what I want to do in here, no offence to your friends.'

'What is it that you want to do?' Bunta asked him. Yoshida just placed his right hand on top of Bunta's left shoulder and, offering him a somewhat reassuring smile, he just said:

'I can't give you the exact details yet but, don't worry, your car will be in the best possible hands.'

Bunta knew that he had to feel very grateful but, something was gnawing at him. He didn't know what but, it was just too good to be true.

'How much is this going to cost me?' he couldn't help but to ask.

'Nothing,' Yoshida replied removing his hand. Bunta made a double take and shook his head.

'Nothing is free of charge,' he said.

'It won't be free of charge,' Yoshida said, 'what I have in mind will involve a bit of your collaboration. I'm sure that we'll reach some sort of agreement. But don't worry about it now, it's nothing that will cost you money and certainly, it won't get you in any sort of trouble.'

'How can I be sure of that?' Bunta asked.

'Because you have my word,' Yoshida replied looking very serious, 'if Midori's right about you, I'm sure that it'll be us who'll have to be grateful to you. Now, I'd love to have a longer chat with you but, right now, I've got to go back to work. Just be sure to let Midori know when I can send someone to pick this baby up, okay?'

'S-sure,' Bunta muttered, 'I just…'

'Hey,' Yoshida said, 'it'll be fine. Midori said that you're going to be taking part, along with Takashi-kun, in the Fuji Freshman Series this year.'

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'Then,' Yoshida continued, 'so that you can focus on that, she asked me to make sure had someone to take care of your car. Believe me, having Takashi-kun as a team mate, you'll need all your energies to make sure he doesn't make you look bad at every race.'

Once again, Bunta felt grateful that Midori seemed to be favouring him over her own younger brother and this made him feel rather good. Also, it seemed as though as Yoshida-san had had some sort of first hand experience dealing with Takashi and Bunta made himself a mental note to ask Midori about it.

'Okay, I'll better go and find Midori so that we can go home,' Yoshida said and, with that, he walked out of the garage leaving Bunta alone with his 2000GT. The nineteen year old stared at the open bonnet for a few instants and, just before everyone would come back, he crouched next to it and, with a tone of voice just above a whisper, he said:

'We can trust that guy, can't we?'

Ten days later, and somehow having avoided giving any kind of explanation to anyone involved, not even his uncle who was now driving Bunta in the Bellett all the way to Oyama in the Shizuoka prefecture to the first event of the Fuji Freshman Series which would be held at the Fuji Speedway.

'So,' Eikichi said just after entering the motorway, 'have you heard from that Yoshida?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'his guys are bringing the 2000GT next week.'

'Aha,' Eikichi said, 'and this is not going to cost you anything.'

'No, it won't,' Bunta replied, careful to keep a neutral tone of voice.

'Right,' Eikichi added. He couldn't have expressed any more scepticism even if he had tried.

'Listen,' Bunta said, 'I've already told you. We've made an arrangement, it'll be fine and you shouldn't worry: it's nothing illegal.'

'That's not what I'm worried about,' Eikichi insisted.

'I know,' Bunta said, 'you still don't think it's a good idea that I'm relying on Midori for this but, please, do trust me. I know what I'm doing.'

'I hope so,' Eikichi muttered, still loud enough so that Bunta could hear it.

The two Fujiwaras spent the rest of the trip in silence which made the way feel a lot longer than what it really was. Bunta wished he could tell Eikichi about the so-called arrangement but, in all honesty, he didn't even know himself what the exact terms of the agreement were so, in any case, he couldn't tell his uncle anything, not even if he wanted to.

Bunta had really felt uneasy about the whole thing but, as Midori had reassured him many times, Yoshida was a very serious and decent guy and whatever he had in mind, it was probably a good thing so Bunta didn't have to worry about it.

Easier said than done, Bunta thought miserably. Especially since Midori had brushed it off as something unimportant when he had mentioned to her, as casually as possible, about the fact that she had never told him that she had actually been engaged to Yoshida.

Oh well, at least, he knew that he would have his beloved car soon enough. He simply couldn't wait to see what the engineers had done with it. Whatever it was, it probably was a much better job than what Bunta, or Nitta-san for that matter, could have ever done so, at the end of the day, he felt very grateful to both Yoshida and, of course, to Midori.

Midori. For some reason, he really was looking forward to seeing her.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait for much longer for, as soon as they entered the circuit's car park, which seemed to be in the middle of some sort of refurbishing works, he saw her walking towards them, accompanied by her ever-present father who, by the way, was still entirely unaware of the kind of relationship his daughter had with his newly recruited driver.

'Hello there,' Itachi-san said greeting first Eikichi then, offering a fatherly smile to Bunta.

'Morning,' Eikichi said, 'what in the heck are they doing in here?' he asked pointing at the scaffolding covering a new control tower and the other construction-site elements which were scattered all over the paddock.

'Oh,' Itachi-san said, 'they started rebuilding a part of the track,' he explained, 'apparently they thought it was too dangerous. Also, rumour has it, they want to have a Formula One race in this circuit in the future.'

'I see,' Eikichi said, 'so, what's the car looking like?'

'Come and check it out yourself,' Itachi-san replied, gesturing with his hand towards some small garage the Itachi Racing Team had been assigned, in what clearly was the old track-side building that would be discarded as soon as the new one was ready, 'Midori, sweetie, why don't you show Bunta where he's supposed to get changed?'

'Sure,' Midori replied smiling in a way which made Bunta look somewhere else. That woman really was too good looking for his own good, 'Bunta-kun, can you come with me?'

Only she could say something as innocent as that and make it sound almost indecent. Or, maybe, if he wanted to be fair, it was he who insisted in finding sexual connotations in everything she said…either way, he followed her while Eikichi did the same with Itachi-san. Bunta was too distracted to notice the amused look on his uncle's face which had nothing to do with whatever Itachi-san was telling him.

'So,' Midori said as soon as they were out of her father's hearing range, 'the two weeks are up.'

'I know,' Bunta said.

'What do you want us to do?' Midori asked him and he didn't need to look at her to know that Midori was no longer smiling. For some reason he felt bad about it and, checking quickly around the paddock, just to be sure that there was no one who could see them, he said:

'Can we go somewhere…a bit more...private?'

Midori nodded and, taking his hand, she led him inside the brand new building which would host the future boxes. Since it clearly wasn't in use just yet, it was completely empty of both furniture and people. There and using a pile of bricks which was covered by a plastic sheet, Bunta sat down and forced himself to look at her in the eye.

'Midori,' he started, 'the thing is, I think I should have told you this days ago.'

'Bunta…'

'No,' he said, 'please let me finish, okay?'

Midori nodded.

'The thing is,' he repeated, 'that I'd like for us to be together and…'

He never finished whatever he wanted to say for, right at that moment, Midori literally jumped on top of him making both fall onto the ground, sending Bunta into a state of sheer panic.

'Midori!' he exclaimed, 'the people…'

'Shush,' she said and, still lying on top of him, she started to kiss him obviously not considering important the fact that they were in a very public place where anyone could enter and discover them there. Soon though, and because of the way she was kissing and touching him, he found that he didn't care all that much either.

It was a good fifteen minutes later when the two of them finally joined Itachi-san and Eikichi and a sour looking Takashi who, for some reason, glared at Bunta the second his younger but much more talented team mate stepped into the garage where the Itachi Racing Team kept its car.

'Where were you?' he asked Bunta.

'I ran into someone I know,' Midori lied, 'I made Bunta wait for me because you know I don't like wandering around the paddock by myself.'

'Of course you don't,' Itachi-san said looking at his daughter adoringly, once again buying every single thing the girl told him, 'now, I trust that you'll keep Fujiwara-san entertained while Bunta and your brother start their warm up.'

'I'll do my best,' Midori said hooking her arm with Eikichi's in such a shameless way that even Bunta felt embarrassed for his poor uncle, 'so,' she continued, 'why don't us two go to the grandstand?'

Before Eikichi could express his opinion on the matter, not that it would have changed anything, he found himself dragged out of the garage by Midori. Bunta then decided to focus his attention on the black and white Nissan Skyline he would be racing in, forcing himself to stop thinking of what he and Midori had just done.

A handful of minutes later, he was in the queue of vehicles which waited for their turn to enter the section of the circuit reserved to the Fuji Freshman Series. Bunta found it odd that he wasn't anywhere near as nervous as he thought he'd be. After all, he hadn't had anywhere near as much time to train himself as Takashi and, also, he knew that his team mate had already competed in a few of these events so, all in all, he was just a rookie. It was odd that he didn't feel like one…

'Oh well,' Bunta muttered talking to the steering wheel, 'we'll be fine, I just have to drive you as I usually do, right?'

The car, of course, didn't reply to him but he didn't need it. Bunta allowed himself a tiny smile remembering the reason why Takashi had looked so surly earlier on: not only Bunta had got the right to use the car at the start of the warm up session but, what was even worse, Itachi-san had refused to let Takashi be at the starting grid and, instead, had put Bunta in charge of the first half of the race.

If one thing could be said about Itachi-san is that, as much as he liked indulging in both of his children, when it came to business he was quite ruthless and, when he said that he wanted to make it to the Japanese Touring Championship within the next two-three years, he meant it.

At long last, Bunta was allowed to move forward and, soon enough, he found himself cruising around the Fuji Speedway, enjoying the fact that the car's tyres felt great rolling on top of a newly laid asphalt. The track itself was a bit of a mess but Bunta had to acknowledge the fact that whatever they were doing to it, it would bring the Shizuoka based circuit to a whole new level of quality.

And, at the end of the day, Bunta just felt lucky that they were allowing him to do what he liked best: go as fast as he could, pushing the engine of the GT-R as much as possible. To think that he was actually getting paid for this!

Twenty laps later, he got a sign from one of the mechanics to go in so that they could check the car and Bunta felt almost sorry when he had to hand it over to Takashi who, still looking rather upset, literally pushed him out of the way.

'Shoo,' he said, 'now I'll show you how you drive this car.'

Bunta glared at him but, knowing that he hardly was in a position to say anything, limited himself with just that. He then observed the not so refined way in which his team mate took off with the car and, shaking his still helmeted head, he went to find the chair where he could sit down while he was idle, removing his gloves and helmet and placing them carefully next to him.

'How's the car?' he heard Itachi-san ask. He looked up and saw his boss standing to his left. The old man spoke while keeping an eye on the nearby circuit.

'It's great,' Bunta replied, 'I'm really grateful you…'

'Son,' Itachi-san interrupted him, this time focusing his attention on his driver, 'I think you know better than to think that we hired you out of charity. This team is a business and, as such, I hope that we'll both do our best to make it a profitable one.'

'I will do my very best,' Bunta promised.

'Good,' Itachi-san said, then, looking around himself briefly, probably to check that neither of the two mechanics could hear him, he added, 'listen, I know my son well enough to know that he can be a little problematic to deal with. I also know that while he's a fair racer, he's nowhere near as good as you are.'

'Itachi-san…'

'But, like I said, this is a business and I'm hoping that with your talent, you'll help Takashi overcome his own limitations.'

Bunta couldn't help but to stare at his employer in very badly masked disbelief.

'Er…'

'Please,' Itachi-san continued, 'can I count on you to help me make a real racer out of Takashi?'

For some mysterious reason, he found himself saying yes to the old man and, for the first time, Bunta saw which set of genes had given Midori her infamous ability to convince an Eskimo that he really needed a fridge.

'I knew I could rely on you!' Itachi-san exclaimed happily.

With a sinking feeling, he realised that he had just committed himself to doing something that was nothing short of a mission impossible: Itachi-san could have asked him to bring him a rock from the Moon and Bunta would have probably though it a much easier feat.

_To be continued…_


	47. Chapter Forty Six

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Forty Six_

Despite knowing that the Fuji Freshman Series was just a filler race for a much more important event, the Japanese Touring Car Championship, it still shocked Bunta to see that, all in all, there were just over a dozen cars taking part of it. Again, with the price of petrol getting higher and higher, it was nothing short of a miracle that some people were prepared to spend money on having cars running just for the fun of it.

Except it wasn't just fun, Bunta thought while he sat on the grass next to the wall which separated the track from the area of the paddock assigned to the Fuji Freshman Racing Teams. He knew very well that every one of the racers there were trying to make an impression on one of the big JTCC bosses who were always looking for new talents so that they could, one day, be hired by one of the big professional racing teams.

'Here you are,' he heard Midori's sweet voice coming from his left side. Bunta turned his head and saw the beautiful woman walking towards him, then crouching next to him so that she could be at eye-level, she added, 'I've been looking for you, you know?'

'You have?' Bunta asked, a little more grumpily than he intended.

'You're upset,' Midori stated, 'listen, I…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted her, 'it's okay. I've known it all along that your brother would always get his way.'

'Bunta,' Midori said, using an unusually serious tone of voice, 'you know that's not true. He just told our father that he really wants to get as much experience as possible so that he can catch up with you. You know that, unlike you, he wasn't born naturally talented.'

Only she could do that to him: contradict him and pay him a compliment in the same sentence. This made it almost impossible for him to argue with her!

'Midori,' he tried anyway, 'I said it's fine. I'll just try and observe the other drivers as closely as possible so that, when it'll be my turn I'll know what to do.'

'See?' Midori asked, 'Takashi would never think about that. Now, why don't you come with me, I've found us a nice place to watch the race from.'

Bunta looked at her, briefly considering that maybe, just maybe, she was talking about the half-finished building they had visited earlier when, with a large dose of disappointment, he realised she was pointing at one of the grandstands.

'Okay,' he said, 'let's go.'

From their seats, Bunta observed the pre-race frenzy, and had the displeasure of seeing Takashi climbing into the white and black Nissan so that he could drive it to the fourth position in the starting grid that he, Bunta, had managed to get for the team.

'He looks nervous,' Midori commented, sounding a tad on the worried side.

'Yeah, he should be,' Bunta said before he could stop himself then, trying to fix his mistake, he added, 'it's his first official race, right?'

'Yes,' Midori replied noncommittally.

Bunta decided to remain quiet and, instead, he focused his attention on the dark red Mitsubishi GTO which had conquered the pole position. He hadn't had the chance to speak to its driver but, from what he knew, the guy in question was very good and, rumour had it, his debut in JTCC was just a matter of time.

He couldn't feel being a bit jealous of him…but nowhere near as much as when he saw his uncle Eikichi talking to Takashi through the open window of the Nissan.

Not that he could make out what Eikichi was telling his team mate but, Bunta found himself hoping that it wasn't advice. Heck, if he couldn't get any straight tips from his uncle, he definitely didn't want Takashi to benefit from Eikichi's seemingly infinite knowledge when it came to racing.

For this reason Bunta made himself a mental note to ask him about it when the few members of the crew cleared the grid, and Eikichi went to join both his nephew and Midori while Itachi-san entertained the owner of the car spare parts dealer which sponsored the team.

'Midori-chan,' Eikichi said, 'your father said that you should join them.'

'Did he?' Midori asked.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied.

For the shortest moment, Midori looked slightly annoyed then, probably remembering her place, she nodded and, after thanking Eikichi for letting her know, she got up from her seat, looked briefly at Bunta and then started walking down the steps.

'Eikichi…' Bunta started.

'So,' the older man interrupted, 'I take you and Midori…'

'Eikichi,' Bunta repeated, 'no offence or anything but, I don't feel like discussing her right now. What I'd like to know is what you and Takashi were talking about.'

Hearing his uncle's little chuckle made Bunta stare at him.

'Bunta,' he said, 'I just told him that he'd better be careful not to crash the car. After all, if he does you won't be able to race in the second heat, will you?'

'That's all?' Bunta insisted.

'Yes,' Eikichi laughed, 'come on, I know I said he's your team mate and all but, at the end of the day, he is always your rival, is not like I'm going to offer him advice, is it?'

Bunta felt rather stupid and, not knowing what to say, he felt infinitely grateful when, at long last, the first stint of the very first event of the Fuji Freshman Series started with all fourteen cars taking off as fast as they could.

'Shit,' Bunta muttered. Takashi, probably being too nervous to remember to close the way to the racers behind him had just let three cars go past him and he was now in seventh place and not looking very much like he could hold on to that either.

'That was a pretty poor start,' Eikichi acknowledged making Bunta snort. Bunta was going to say that he thought that it was the understatement of the century when he saw that, not far away from where he and his uncle were sitting, Itachi-san and his sponsor were looking anything but happy.

Poor Midori seemed to be doing her best to keep their guest busy so that he wouldn't notice the way Takashi had messed things up at the start of the race and Bunta could not help but to admire her for that: Midori was a nightmare to deal with most of the time but during the short time he'd known her, Bunta had noticed that she was extremely loyal to her father.

As the race went on, Takashi didn't seem to be doing much better than what he'd been at the start of it and, by the twelfth lap out of thirty, he was down in tenth position. The dark red GTO was still first, with a light blue Mazda RX-2 tailing him.

'Look at what the Mazda's doing,' Eikichi said.

Bunta started paying attention to the light blue car, trying to spot whatever it was that had caught his uncle's attention when, all of a sudden, he saw that the driver of the Mazda was taking a highly unusual line.

'What is…' he went to ask.

'Pay attention the next time it takes that corner over there,' Eikichi ordered, indicating with his left index finger a sharp right hander. With that, Bunta waited patiently for the Mazda to pass again for what it was the thirteenth lap of the race then, narrowing his eyes even more than usual, he saw the Mazda's driver was letting the car slide slightly, never losing control of it.

'He's drifting!' Bunta exclaimed.

'Not quite, Eikichi said, 'what that racer is doing is even better.'

'And that is?' Bunta asked, feeling the usual frustration he got whenever his uncle refused to give him a straight answer.

'He's not letting the car in front of him dictate the way he drives.'

Bunta observed the GTO and saw that, indeed, its driver used a completely different driving style. Bunta knew from first hand experience how easy it was for any racer to be tempted to copy the driving from the car ahead of him but, he also knew that this didn't always guarantee that one could keep up with the car in front. In fact, it often meant the opposite.

'That's very clever,' Bunta admitted.

'I'm glad you think so,' Eikichi said approvingly, 'after all, these guys there are the ones you have to compete against for the chance to make it to real professionalism.'

'I know,' Bunta half-mumbled. He had always known that becoming a professional racer was going to be super-difficult. To start with, these days only people with a lot of money managed to stay in the amateur racing circus for long enough to be noticed by the scouts. Naturally, and this was the only comforting factor, the scouts also were after the most talented drivers.

'That's right,' Eikichi said all of a sudden, making Bunta feel slightly disoriented.

'What's right?'

'Your spirit,' Eikichi replied. The way you were looking at those cars there,' he added pointing at the vehicles which kept darting past every now and then, 'it's the way I wanted you to see them.'

Bunta, finally understanding, nodded to his uncle and, giving him his most determinate look, he said:

'I can't wait to get behind the wheel.'

Eikichi laughed out loud and, for some reason, he lifted his right hand starting to move it towards his nephew then, noticing the people around him, he put it back down making Bunta feel rather self-conscious: he would have died of embarrassment if his uncle had dared tousling his hair in public!

Three laps later, Takashi had let three more cars overtake him and was now in thirteenth place, with the fourteenth and last car nearly stuck on the Nissan's rear bumper.

'What in the heck is he doing?' Bunta asked to no one in particular.

Eikichi was about to open his mouth to reply when they saw Takashi doing something even more stupid: taking a left hander, he braked unnecessarily early, veered towards the outside of the corner, as though as he was leaving the space for the fourteenth car, another Nissan GT-R painted green, to get past him.

Needless to say, the racer onboard the green GT-R tried to get his car's nose into the gap which Takashi had left open but, just then, he found the way cut by Takashi's black and white Nissan, leaving both cars less than a handful of centimetres apart.

It was just sheer dumb luck that made it possible for the two cars to avoid a sure collision and for Takashi to keep his penultimate place. Bunta felt himself shake with a mix of worry, fear and, most of all, anger.

'What the hell was THAT?' he hissed furiously.

Eikichi didn't reply and that made Bunta look at his uncle.

'Are you okay?' the young man asked now sounding worried.

'Yeah,' Eikichi replied with a low tone of voice.

'Are you sure?' Bunta insisted, nearly forgetting all about the race. He observed his uncle's face as closely as he could searching for any signs which would tell him that his uncle was feeling unwell he saw then that the older man was fine, however, his ageing face was displaying an emotion he hadn't seen in a long time: he was very worried, 'Uncle Eikichi…'

'He's losing it,' he finally said.

Bunta was about to reply to that when, not too far away, at one of the corners they couldn't see from their seats, they heard the ugly sound of screeching tyres followed by what sounded like a nasty crash. No one needed to tell to the two Fujiwara what had happened.

'I'm going to kill him,' Bunta said jumping up from his seat.

'No,' Eikichi said getting up too, grabbing his nephew's arm, forcing him to stop in the process, 'let his father deal with him.'

'No,' Bunta replied, 'I think it's due time someone speaks to that spoilt little brat.'

With that, he snatched his arm free and, running down the stairs, he went into the garage where the two mechanics from the Itachi Racing Team had just been informed by radio that the circuit's marshals were going to be towing the car number seven, their car, back into the paddock.

'It'll be fine,' Uesugi, the youngest of the two mechanics said, making it a point to look at Bunta while he spoke.

'I hope so,' Bunta said, glaring at the poor guy. The other mechanic was about to defend his colleague when Eikichi, followed by Itachi-san and Midori, arrived at the garage. Itachi-san looked positively mortified and this made Bunta steal a glance at Midori who, in exchange, looked at Bunta asking him silently not to ask questions.

Ten minutes later, they saw one of the circuit's trucks towing the poor Nissan, with Takashi riding next to the truck's driver. His face still half hidden by his racing helmet.

It only took a very quick look too see that the right side of the car's long nose was completely smashed up. So badly that even the small circular rear view mirror had detached itself from the KPGC10's bodywork making it painfully clear that, at least for today, the poor Skyline wouldn't be taking part of any other races.

'YOU,' Bunta shouted at his team-mate the instant he climbed out of the truck, 'come with me, NOW!'

'W-what…' Takashi started, only to be grabbed by his arm by a furious Bunta.

Eikichi was going to intervene when, shockingly enough, Itachi-san said:

'Takashi, do what Bunta says.'

'Dad…' Takashi started.

'Just do it,' Itachi-san insisted, this time issuing what sounded more like a direct order. One that not even Takashi dared to ignore. So, very reluctantly, the twenty year old followed Bunta to a slightly quieter area of the paddock, noticing how the owner of the green Nissan was now approaching Itachi-san, probably to see if Itachi-san was going to somehow compensate for the damage.

'Listen,' Bunta said, barely controlling the instinct which wanted him to punch the lights out of Takashi, 'I just want you to answer to one question as honestly as you can.'

'Why should I?' Takashi challenged him.

'Because if you don't I'll beat the crap out of you,' Bunta replied, still keeping admirably calm.

Takashi did a double take, then, probably believing Bunta's thread, decided to give up.

'Okay, what do you want?'

'No,' Bunta said, 'that's what I want to ask of you,' he added. Takashi looked confused so Bunta decided to elaborate, 'I want to know what it is that YOU want. I mean, what in the heck are you doing in here?'

'I'm…'

'In other words,' Bunta continued, 'why are you racing?'

Takashi now looked definitely taken aback by this question and that made him remain quiet staring at the ground for at least a minute or two, then, very slowly, he looked up at Bunta and said:

'I want to become a professional racer, of course.'

'Oh, you do?' Bunta asked sarcastically, 'you know,' he carried on before Takashi could speak, 'you had us all fooled. The way you were driving during the race was definitely not the way a racer drives.'

'What the heck do you know?'

'I know,' Bunta, 'because, unlike you, I really want to make it into professionalism and, unlike you, I appreciate how lucky I am that your father has given me the chance to be here. Do you have any idea of how much money is going to cost him to fix the damaged you've caused today?'

'What do you care about that?' Takashi asked, finally showing his usual aggressive self, 'it's not like it's your money, is it?' he added then, not giving the time for Bunta to reply, he laughed and said, 'you're so poor that it's no wonder you're this freaked out…'

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed, 'I'm poor and, thank goodness, this means I'm not a spoilt little brat like yourself.'

'Say that again!' Takashi said getting his face closer to Bunta's in a very menacing way.

'You are a spoilt little brat,' Bunta repeated calmly, 'which means that you have never had to earn any money by yourself and therefore cannot appreciate just how hard it is. Now, the last thing I want is to become your friend…'

'Yeah,' Takashi said, 'because that's as likely as you dating my sister.'

It took Bunta his very best acting skills for him not to display any emotion then, taking a much needed deep breath, all the while pretending to look like he was trying to be patient, he continued:

'…but, I am your team mate and our job is to make sure that we try and win at least a race or two so, next time, I know you aren't used to it but, try using your brain so you don't crash the car, okay?'

With that, Bunta turned round and left a fuming Takashi behind. Oh, if only he could tell that brat about the fact that he and Midori were doing a lot more than just dating…

But Bunta knew that he simply couldn't afford to get kicked out of the team and, whereas he would have paid to see Takashi's face right then, he also knew that Itachi-san would probably not be impressed. After all, Itachi-san was clearly an old-fashioned man and if he found out that his lovely, very unmarried daughter was no longer a virgin he'd probably want Bunta's skin…

At any rate, Bunta's first ever legal race ended even before he could even sit behind the Nissan's steering wheel and, only the thought that in a few days' time he would have his 2000GT back was enough of a consolation for him.

'…Bunta,' Yuuichi said, that same evening while the two of them were sitting by the lake up in Mt Akina, 'are you listening to me?'

'Eh?' Bunta asked.

'I was saying,' Yuuichi replied, looking like he'd repeated the same thing a thousand times, 'that I'm not going to be here this weekend.'

'You're not?'

'No,' Yuuichi replied, 'I'm going to Osaka to see Fuka.'

'Ah,' Bunta said, 'I thought you two guys were going to wait for her to come back.'

'Nah,' Yuuichi said, 'it's been weeks now and I miss her so much that my father has given me a special bonus this month so that I can go and see her.'

'Yuuichi…'

'I know,' his best friend interrupted him, 'is just that it's so hard not to be able to see each other. I know that it'll probably be easier when we get used to it but, deep down, I know that Fuka will be away for quite a while so I'm thinking of going to visit her as often as I can.'

'What happened to your plan to save up for your house?'

'Oh,' Yuuichi said, 'I'm still saving. This is the only reason that keeps me from going to see her every weekend,' he admitted making Bunta smile at him in a most patronising way, 'hey!' Yuuichi protested, 'not everyone is as lucky as to have their girlfriend almost permanently attached to you.'

'Please don't remind me,' Bunta said, trying to feign an annoyance that, surprisingly, didn't really feel. If he wanted to be honest with himself, he didn't mind having Midori around anywhere near as much as he wanted to make it look.

'What are you two going to do?' Yuuichi asked all of a sudden.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, I know you don't want her father or brother to know about your relationship,' Yuuichi explained, 'but, let's face it, at the rate she's spreading the news it's just a matter of time till they find out.'

'I know,' Bunta admitted.

'So,' Yuuichi insisted, 'what are you going to do when the time comes?'

'You know,' Bunta said, 'I think I'll worry about it then. Now, why don't you take me for a spin in that mass of rusty iron you call your car…'

'Oi!' Yuuichi protested, trying to smacking Bunta on the back of his head, 'don't you…'

'Geez man!' Bunta said getting away from his best friend as fast as he could, laughing while he did so, 'you can't take a joke anymore, can you?'

'Not when it's about my ride, I can't,' Yuuichi replied getting up too so he could follow Bunta to his beloved Mazda Capella.

'Would you prefer if I made fun of Fuka-chan?' Bunta asked, smiling devilishly.

'Do you want to walk back home?' Yuuichi threatened angrily.

'Why not?' Bunta teased, 'I'd probably get there faster anyway.'

Yuuichi was about to reply to that when the two friends saw the lights of a car driving towards them. It was a rather well kept Honda S800 painted in a dark brown and it parked right next to Yuuichi's Capella. Then, a tall guy who looked to be in his early twenties climbed out if it and said:

'Who of you two is Tachibana Yuuichi?'

_To be continued…_


	48. Chapter Forty Seven

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Forty Seven_

Not really knowing what else to do, Yuuichi looked at Bunta as though as he waited to see what his best friend would say and, probably because of that, the newcomer got the wrong idea and, putting his right hand forward, he offered Bunta a friendly enough simile and said:

'Nice to meet you Tachibana. My name is Sato Hiroyuki and I come from Tochigi.'

'Hi,' Bunta greeted giving him a handshake, 'it's nice meeting you too but, I'm not the man you're after,' he added then, pointing at Yuuichi with his thumb, he said, 'he is.'

'Ah,' Sato said, 'I see.'

'Hello,' Yuuichi said sounding as shy as whenever he spoke to someone he didn't know, 'er…what is it that you…well…how can I…'

'I'm a friend of Iwase Satoshi, from Saitama,' Sato interrupted him, 'you remember him, right?'

Yuuichi and Bunta exchanged a quick glance before Yuuichi looked back at Sato and, nodding, he said:

'I remember him, he was a really nice guy. How is he doing these days?'

'He's okay,' Sato said, 'but that's not why I'm here. Satoshi told me you were a good racer and I since I recently got into racing too, I wanted to know if you'd like to race against me.'

'Er…' Yuuichi started.

'Where would you want to race?' Bunta asked, interrupting his best friend.

'Well,' Sato replied, looking a little bit confused, 'I'm not familiar with this course,' he said making a gesture with his head, indicating the road which went down Mt Akina, 'but, I've been practicing for a while in my local one, you might have heard of it, it's called Momiji Lane.'

'I've heard of it,' Yuuichi said and Bunta thanked him for that for he, Bunta, really had no idea of which road Sato was talking about. Yet again, Bunta knew that Yuuichi had much better knowledge than he had when it came to the numerous passes and roads the Gunma prefecture had been graced with.

'Great,' Sato said, 'so, would you want to race me there?'

'Er…I…'

'Sorry,' Bunta interrupted him again, 'do you think you can give us a minute?'

Sato, once again, looked rather puzzled but since he obviously was as nice a guy as his friend Satoshi, he nodded a couple of times before making a gesture with his hand and say:

'Sure, go ahead…'

'Thanks,' Bunta said and, with this, he took Yuuichi by his arm, literally dragging him a few meters away from where Sato was so that they could be out of his hearing range. Once there, Bunta assumed his most serious expression and, using a low enough tone of voice, he said:

'I think you should take it.'

'Eh?'

'The challenge,' Bunta specified, 'take it.'

'What?' Yuuichi asked, 'but…I thought…you know, er…aren't we retired?'

'What are you talking about?' Bunta asked.

'You said we weren't going to do anymore street racing,' Yuuichi explained.

'No,' Bunta said, 'I said _I _wasn't going to do anymore street racing. I never said anything about _you_.'

'But…'

'Seriously,' Bunta said, 'he seems a decent enough guy, I think it'll be fun.'

Yuuichi stared at his best friend for a short time before his lips curled into a smile which was half way between amused and patronising then, letting out a sigh of resignation, he nodded and said:

'Yeah, I think I'll accept it. After all, we know how much you're missing street racing.'

'What?'

'Don't even try to deny it,' Yuuichi warned, 'I know you're now taking things seriously with your racing career and can no longer fool around with me and the Akina Firebolts but, hey, I know that, deep down, you'll always prefer street racing.'

As usual, Yuuichi was spot on and Bunta had to admit that he preferred the freedom that street racing gave him but, he also knew that street racing wasn't going to give him the official recognition as a racer that legally organised racing events could offer him. Not to mention that street racing wasn't anywhere near as profitable as professional racing was.

At any rate, while he didn't want to get involved in street racing, at least for the time being, there was nothing wrong with going to watch Yuuichi racing, was there?

'Come on,' Yuuichi said, 'let's go and accept this challenge…'

By the end of the evening, Yuuichi had agreed to go to Momiji Lane in the evening of the last Saturday of April, also because he wanted to have a good three weeks to go to Osaka and to prepare his car for its first race in a while.

'You look happy,' Eikichi commented when Bunta stepped into the shop.

'I am,' Bunta admitted and that made Eikichi stop cleaning the inside of the machine which was used to make the tofu and, putting the wet cloth down, he looked at his nephew and said:

'You know, I'm very proud of you.'

Bunta wouldn't have been any more shocked if his uncle had slapped him. He knew that the old man had got fractionally more affectionate with him ever since the angina but, that was a bit too much, wasn't it?

'The way you handled things at the circuit,' Eikichi elaborated seeing that his nephew wasn't talking, 'for a moment there I thought that you would hit that Takashi brat.'

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'that's what I wanted to do…but…Itachi-san asked me to help Takashi,' he said leaning against one of the shop's large sinks.

'He did?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'I'm not sure why but I kind of agreed I would do my best so that Takashi could become a proper racer.'

Eikichi looked at his nephew with a flabbergasted expression on his face then, he let out an amused laugh and said:

'Ah, that rascal! He'll never change.'

'Eh?'

'Itachi-san really is a dangerous man,' Eikichi explained, 'never let him do any talking or he'll convince you to do anything he wants. Trust me, been there too.'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'his daughter isn't much better.'

'That's right,' Eikichi agreed, 'if anything, she's probably worse.'

'Why is that?' Bunta asked.

'Well,' Eikichi replied, 'she's a woman, isn't she? And a very beautiful one at that. With her looks and her father's persuasion powers it's little wonder how she's got you under her thumb.'

'Oi,' Bunta protested, 'she doesn't…'

'Yeah, right,' Eikichi interrupted him then, staring at his nephew in that insufferably superior way of his, then he smiled and said, 'let's have some dinner, shall we?'

Bunta shook his head in defeat and, knowing that his uncle was quite right even if he would never admit it, decided to follow the older man into the house's small kitchen so that the two Fujiwaras could fix themselves something to eat.

Almost a week later, Bunta and Midori were lying in bed at the same ryokan where they had stayed for that memorable first time when Midori lifted her head from Bunta's shoulder and, propping herself up on her elbow, she looked at her boyfriend and said:

'You know, I'm thinking of telling my father about us.'

Bunta had to make a super-human effort not to jump out of the bed.

'Er…'

'You know,' she repeated, 'I think he'll be happy if he finds out we're an item.'

'Er…'

'Also,' she continued, 'we've been together for almost a month now, haven't we?'

'Yes but…'

'Then I think it's okay if we tell him,' Midori decided. Bunta, as delicately as he could, pushed her away from him a little bit, just enough so that he could sit up on the bed, using the headrest for support. Midori also sat down next to him, folding her legs under her, not even bothering to cover herself up with the bedclothes.

This only made it more difficult for Bunta to say what he said next:

'Listen, I know that we're no longer on trial but, I seriously think that we should wait for a bit. I mean, we just started going out and…well, I'm just not sure that your father would approve of us being together.'

'He would,' Midori contradicted him, 'I'm sure he'll be happy for me.'

'Okay,' Bunta surrendered, 'let's do this: we wait for another two months. Then we'll tell everybody, okay?'

'Two more months?' Midori asked him, frowning her pretty eyebrows.

'Please,' Bunta begged her.

Midori looked down as though as she was considering her options very carefully then, thankfully giving in, she looked at him and, offering her sweetest, sexiest smile, she nodded and said:

'Okay, we'll do what you want.'

Bunta thanked the heavens for this. Somehow he had managed to buy himself two more months of mental tranquillity. Then the two of them lied down again with Midori's head back at resting against Bunta's shoulder.

'Yoshida-san is brining the car tomorrow,' the nineteen year old commented, eager to change the topic.

'I know,' Midori said, 'he told me. You'll take me for a drive with it, right?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied.

'Good,' Midori said and, with that, the two of them fell asleep with Bunta feeling eternally grateful that Eikichi had agreed to take care of the deliveries that night for, in all honesty, he loved being able to fall asleep with Midori's head on his shoulder and with him playing with her long, soft hair.

The morning after, the two of them had breakfast and then, as they had agreed with Yoshida, drove in Midori's little Consorte to Nitta-san's repairs shop where, predictably enough, the woman caused the usual commotion among the poor guys who worked at the place.

Bunta observed the not so subtle way in which his work colleagues stared at his girlfriend but, instead of feeling jealous, he just felt slightly embarrassed. Because of this, he cleared his throat unnecessarily loudly while he and Midori made their way to where Nitta-san was, standing right outside his office, checking some paperwork.

'Good morning Nitta-san,' Bunta greeted.

'Good morning,' the old man replied then, looking at Midori, he added, 'can I offer you anything to drink?'

'No thank you,' Midori said, 'we just had breakfast,' she then added making the poor Nitta-san do a double-take. Fortunately, the man had enough tact to ignore that last remark and, instead, he looked at Bunta and said:

'We got a couple of cars in this morning; can I count on you for this afternoon?'

'Sure,' Bunta said, 'I'll just take the 2000GT out for a quick spin but, after that I'm free all day, aren't I?' he then added glancing at Midori.

'Yes,' the woman replied, 'I'm going shopping with a couple of girlfriends.'

'Good,' Bunta said. This time Nitta-san could not help but to smile at the younger man with a fatherly expression on his face, he also seemed to want to say something but, he didn't have the time for, right at that moment, the three of them saw a super modern looking truck driving into the garage.

It was all white with the Toyota logo painted on both doors and, on top of it, it was carrying Bunta's pride and joy: his beloved Toyota 2000GT which, by the way, looked better than ever and it wasn't because Bunta hadn't seen his car in over two weeks; whatever those guys had done to it, it had been an outstanding job.

'Hey there,' Yoshida said while climbing out of the track's passenger's side, from the driver's one, Bunta saw another guy, slightly shorter but clearly older than Yoshida, 'Fujiwara, this is my good friend Katayama Nobuaki. He's the one who's been working on your car.'

'Nice meeting you,' Bunta said, shaking Katayama's hand while bowing in a very respectful manner, 'thanks a lot for your hard work.'

'No problem,' Katayama said, 'it was a pleasure as well as good training for me. I haven't worked on a 2000GT before.'

'He's just started working with us,' Yoshida explained, 'so he's eager to see as many models as possible. That said, I've been onboard of your car during the test drives and, let me tell you that it's a pity we didn't make any more super sports cars.'

'Yoshida,' Katayama said, 'you know that the country's economy isn't looking rosy. I think we should aim for smaller, more compact cars in the future.'

'I know,' Yoshida, 'I'm sure that we'll come up with something suitable soon enough.'

'Er…' Bunta started.

'Oh!' Katayama interrupted him, slapping his own forehead with his hand, 'I almost forgot, let's give this beauty back to its owner.'

Within a couple of minutes, everyone in the shop, from Nitta-san to Masashi, Yoshida and Katayama and a seemingly unimpressed Midori were staring at the car while Bunta climbed into it, turning the ignition key so that the newly installed engine would turn itself on.

Bunta didn't know what to expect but, it surely wasn't this: the new unit produced such a beautifully tuned sound that it could no longer be described as mere noise. It was music and Bunta thought that he would never get tired of listening to it.

'How is it?' Katayama asked him sounding very enthusiastic.

'I'm speechless,' Bunta confessed, 'this is…wow…I don't know what to say. Honestly, it's just…'

Yoshida let out an amused chuckle and, clasping Katayama's shoulder, he reassured his friend:

'He likes it.'

'Er…' Masashi intervened, 'can we take a look at…'

'Sure,' Bunta, Yoshida and Katayama replied at the same time then, Yoshida, looking first at Bunta then at Nitta-san, he added, 'can Fujiwara and us two have a quick word somewhere private?'

Nitta-san nodded and said:

'Of course, please do use my office, if you like.'

'Thank you for your consideration,' Yoshida said and then Bunta, only half-willingly, turned the new engine off, climbed out of the car and following Yoshida and Katayama, he left Nitta-san and his work colleagues inspecting his baby so that they could see for themselves the fantastic work Katayama and his team had done with the 2000GT.

Once again, Midori showed Bunta that when she wanted, she knew what her place was and, instead of insisting on coming with them, she just stayed behind looking rather amused at the way the guys gasped all in unison when Nitta-san finally opened the car's hood.

'Don't worry,' Katayama said when he saw the longing way Bunta was looking at his car, 'you'll have plenty of time to get familiar with the new engine.'

'Yes, you will,' Yoshida agreed then, the minute all three of them were inside Nitta-san's office, he closed the door and said, 'now, I'm sure you want to know what your end of the deal is…'

'Of course,' Bunta said. Only then he allowed himself to feel slightly suspicious. This was all too good to be true and he felt rather afraid at what those two would ask of him in exchange for the work they had done on his car.

'Now,' Katayama started, 'as you know, we both work for Toyota and we both have just been put in charge of investigating new possible designs for the cars of the future…'

'…to do that,' Yoshida continued, 'we need to do a lot of testing, some of which is carried on by our professional racing teams as well as in our testing facilities. However, what Katayama and I have in mind is something that, officially speaking, cannot be done.'

'And that is?' Bunta asked cautiously.

'Midori told me that you're into street racing,' Yoshida started.

'I used to be,' Bunta hurried to say.

'Used to?' Katayama asked now looking rather concerned.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'nowadays I only use the car for my uncle's business. He runs a tofu shop and I do the deliveries for him most nights.'

'Ah…' Katayama gasped, 'that's unexpected.'

'Fujiwara,' Yoshida said, 'are you telling us that whenever you do the deliveries you drive your car normally?'

Bunta considered briefly lying to the two slightly older men but, since he was starting to understand what they wanted from him, he decided to tell them the truth:

'No, of course I don't. I've always used the deliveries to train myself. I know Akina's pass rather well so I always try to see if I can clear the whole thing faster.'

'Ah that's better,' Yoshida said and both he and Katayama looked relieved.

'What we want you to do,' Katayama said, 'is to make it a point to test the car's limits at every chance you get. Then, more or less regularly, we would check it out, maybe changing things if we feel like we can improve the whole thing. Of course, that would all be free of charge.'

'Let me get this straight,' Bunta said, 'all I need to do is to push the car to its limits?'

'Yes,' Yoshida replied, 'it should be simple enough, shouldn't it?'

'It is,' Bunta agreed, 'after all, it's what I've been doing up to now.'

'Brilliant,' Katayama said happily, 'needless to say, this is a secret that has to remain between the three of us. I don't think Toyota would be happy if they knew about this little project of ours so.'

'I get it,' Bunta said, 'I won't ever mention this to anyone…well, except my uncle. Can I tell him?'

'Sure you can,' Yoshida replied then, as an afterthought, he said, 'to Midori, just tell her that we've done it all free of charge because she's just that much charming. I'm sure that will please her enough to stop her from asking questions.'

Bunta nodded, marvelled at just how well this guy seemed to know Midori. Yet again, he had almost married the woman so that was to be expected.

'Fantastic,' Katayama said interrupting Bunta's train of thought then, offering his hand to him once again, he said, 'well, this, I think, it's the start of a magnificent partnership…'

Just as predicted, the car felt absolutely fantastic and it took Bunta just a quick drive down Mt Akina to see that they had not only replaced the engine but also had reconditioned the whole car in such a way that it was almost as though as the car was brand now.

'No,' he muttered, 'it's better than that.'

'What is that?' Midori asked from the passenger's side.

'Nothing,' Bunta replied, 'now, are you sure you want me to push it? It might get scary.'

Instead of replying, Midori let out one of her cute and sexy little giggles. Bunta smiled and, shifting himself over his seat, he readied himself to show to his girlfriend what this new baby of his could do all the while thinking that he couldn't wait to do that night's delivery when he'd be on his own and with the road all to himself.

Two weeks after getting his car back and after having beaten his own downhill record three times in a row, Bunta drove the 2000GT all to the Suzuka circuit where the Itachi Racing Team would be taking part in the second round of the Fuji Freshman Series.

This time he was on his own since Eikichi had decided to stay back in Shibukawa making Bunta rather worried but, maybe this was better, after all, he didn't want his uncle to overexert himself too much and a four and a half hour drive was more than what the old man could cope with these days.

When at long last he got to the circuit, nearly getting lost while trying to find the parking space assigned to the Fuji Freshman Series racers, he saw Itachi-san and his daughter talking to a couple of people. A bit further away, he could see the back of the team's Nissan which, obviously enough, had been fully repaired.

Then, sitting on top of a short wall, he saw Takashi looking rather depressed while Uesugi, one of the team's mechanics as well as Takashi's number one fanboy, was obviously doing his best to try cheer him up. Bunta smiled thinking about the possible, supremely trivial causes of the brat's latest tantrum when, all of a sudden, Itachi-san noticed his presence there.

'Bunta!' he exclaimed, looking as though as he had never been happier, this made Bunta feel very uneasy but, for the sake of keeping his good manners, he said:

'Good morning, Itachi-san.'

'Oh you silly, silly boy,' Itachi-san started, this time patting Bunta's shoulder in an affectionate, yet rather disturbing way. At this point, Bunta's brain had already started going in overdrive while trying to figure out what was happening around him then, taking a quick look at Midori's expression of accomplishment he slowly began to understand.

'Er…'

'You know,' Itachi-san said, 'if you wanted to date my daughter, all you needed to do is ask.'

'Eh?'

'After all,' the old man continued, 'I'm only too happy if a fine man like yourself takes her out every now and then.'

'Itachi-san…' a quickly panicking Bunta started.

'Bunta,' the old man interrupted him, 'I know you're as old-fashioned as I am with these things and that's a very good thing but, you don't really need my permission to date Midori. I'm sure she'll be happy to oblige, won't you dear?'

Midori nodded while she gave Bunta a super-sweet smile which, for some strange reason, made him feel like climbing back into his car and drive away from there as fast as he could.

_To be continued…_


	49. Chapter Forty Eight

**Dreaming of Akina **

_Chapter Forty Eight_

Needless to say, Bunta didn't run away from the Suzuka circuit, despite the foul looks that Takashi kept giving him at every chance he got. If it weren't because the slightly older guy also had to drive the team's Skyline, Bunta was sure that Takashi would have somehow tampered with it.

'See?' he heard Midori's voice say, 'Daddy's happy about us.'

'Midori…' Bunta started saying, only to be interrupted by Midori who, placing one of her beautifully manicured fingers onto his lips, shook her head and said:

'I told you: it'll be fine. Just trust me.'

Right, Bunta thought bitterly, as if he could trust her now. He still couldn't bring himself to believe that Midori, yet again, had done the very thing he had asked her not to. It wasn't the first time and, Bunta feared, it wouldn't be the last.

In any case, she was right: Itachi-san seemed to be genuinely overjoyed about having Bunta dating his beloved daughter and, in fact, just before the start of the qualifying session the old man asked Bunta to have a word with him in private, earning Bunta a brand new glare courtesy of Takashi who looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

'Bunta,' Itachi-san said the minute they started walking towards a quieter part of the very busy paddock, 'I can't tell you just how much easier things…'

'Itachi-san,' Bunta interrupted him, 'listen, I know that Midori...er…Midori-san said that…'

'It's fine,' Itachi-san said, 'Midori has told me that she's happy to date you and, to be honest, I kind of hoped you two would start seeing each other.'

'Eh?'

'I know she's a bit older than you are,' Itachi-san said, 'but I'm not worried. You're an exceptionally mature young man and I'm sure you'll know how to make her happy.'

Bunta forced himself to keep walking for he was starting to feel supremely afraid. He then tried to swallow without choking himself and, after taking one very deep steadying breath, he said:

'I'll do my best.'

Itachi-san looked at him with fatherly affection and, giving him an approving nod, he continued:

'As I was saying, this will certainly change a few things.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked.

'Well,' Itachi-san said, 'now that you potentially are my future son-in-law…'

Bunta almost tripped hearing this. Thankfully his reflexes were fast enough to keep him upright.

'…I'll have to make sure your career is as successful as possible,' Itachi-san finished, 'for this reason, I'm thinking of rewriting the contract you signed to become a part of this team. What would you say if I were to manage your motorsports career?'

'Well…I…'

'Don't give me your answer now,' Itachi-san said, 'right now I want you to focus on the race. Think about it for a while and get back to me whenever you're ready, okay?'

'Sure,' Bunta managed to reply.

'Good,' Itachi-san said, 'now, let me give you some advice regarding my daughter.'

By the time the two men made it back to the garage, Bunta was positively freaked out and feeling rather dizzy. He felt eternally grateful that neither Takashi nor Midori were anywhere to be seen and that allowed him to try and concentrate while he donned his gloves and helmet before climbing into the Skyline to take it out for the qualifying session.

'Fujiwara,' he heard a voice calling him. Looking up from his seat, he saw Uesugi's face, 'what are you doing? You've got to start the engine, don't you?'

'Yes, of course,' Bunta replied feeling slightly idiotic then, forcing his brain into racing-mode, he started the GT-R's powerful racing engine and, hoping he would stay focused throughout the race, he drove the car all the way to the starting grid finding himself surprised that he was the last racer to get there.

He glanced through the glass of the car's windscreen noticing for the first time that the previously innocuous looking clouds had turned a very dark shade of grey meaning that, unless he was very much mistaken, it wouldn't take long before it started raining.

'Great,' he mumbled under his breath. A slippery and drenched track was quite high up on the list of all the things he didn't need right now, especially considering that if it started raining right in the middle of the qualifying it would mean that all the settings they had come up with would be rendered pretty much useless.

Knowing that there wasn't anything he could do about that, he straightened himself on the car's bucket seat and, grasping the steering wheel a little tighter than usual he made an almost super-human effort to remove every one of the disturbing thoughts from his mind so that he could concentrate on his flying lap.

He hadn't even finished the second lap around the circuit when the first, fat drops of water splashed against the windscreen and, not even twenty minutes later Bunta, along with the other handful of very brave drivers who were still driving around the circuit had to give up and get back into their garages.

In fact, what had looked like an average light shower had turned into such a violent downpour and soon, not even the highly efficient drains built along the length of the track could cope with the massive amount of water which had accumulated onto the tarmac's surface.

'Well done Bunta!' Itachi-san shouted the instant the young man got back into the garage, making Bunta feel slightly confused. He removed his helmet and gloves and was going to ask about his position when Midori flung her arms around him and, giving him a peck on his cheek, she said:

'Second place! Congratulations baby!'

'He just got lucky,' Takashi said poisonously.

'And you're just jealous,' Itachi-san replied making Takashi look even madder, if that was at all possible. Ignoring his son, Itachi-san grasped Bunta's shoulder and added, 'now, take it easy, I'll go and ask the organisation about the start of the race.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'Well,' Itachi-san replied, 'they were thinking of postponing it for after the JTCC one. It depends on whether it stops raining sometime soon.'

'Ah, I see,' Bunta said, 'to be honest, things aren't horrible out there. I'd just need to replace the tyres with new ones…'

'Son,' Itachi-san interrupted him, once again offering him a fatherly smile, 'you don't need to push yourself. Even the race director thinks that it's raining too much and it's too risky for anyone to drive. Just rest a little, okay?

'Sure,' Bunta replied then, he felt Midori taking his hand in hers.

'Don't worry Daddy,' she said, 'I'll make sure he is relaxed.'

For some reason Bunta read that as some sort of threat but, for the sake of his own sanity, he decided to ignore his gut feeling. Instead, he did what he was slowly beginning to realise it was the best when it came to dealing with Midori: do whatever she wanted without arguing too much with her.

'Come with me,' she said using her huskiest tone of voice and, not even trying to protest, Bunta just obeyed. When three hours later he was back onboard the Skyline he decided that sometimes, it paid off not arguing with Midori because now he definitely felt a lot more relaxed…

Positioning his car next to the dark red GTO which was once again in the pole position, Bunta used the few instants they had before the race to consider a few things:

All in all, having Itachi-san knowing and, more importantly, approving of his relationship with Midori wasn't that bad. For one, Midori was even happier and sweeter than usual, Itachi-san was positively beaming and, asides from a fuming Takashi, Bunta found that even the normally hostile mechanics were being almost friendly to him.

'Fujiwara-san,' Uesugi said, yet again speaking through the open window, 'we've lowered a bit the suspensions; also, we've replaced the front tyres with a new set, I hope everything's alright.'

'It will be,' Bunta replied, 'I'm sure of it. Thanks for the hard work.'

'You're welcome and good luck with the race,' Uesugi said politely. Bunta would have laughed if it weren't because he heard all thirteen other drivers revving their cars' engines so, following suit, he readied himself for the start of what would be a very intense race under the rain which, despite having eased a little, was still falling quite copiously.

He didn't have time to consider the adverse weather conditions for, right at that instant, the race director signalled for the drivers to start their warm up lap and, getting his car into gear, he let the GTO drive ahead of him before releasing the clutch so that his Nissan would go forward.

The start of the race was, putting it very mildly, a very messy affair and it was nothing short of a miracle when Bunta, not only managed to avoid getting involved in the two nasty collisions which took place at the very first turn of the track, but also kept his car stuck onto the GTO's rear bumper.

It was the first time Bunta was racing for real at an official, legal race and he found it surprising that he wasn't anywhere near as nervous as he thought he would. He felt so calm that he even allowed himself to observe the magisterial way in which the GTO's driver negotiated each of the circuit's many corners.

One thing was clear: the guy was one of the best drivers Bunta had ever seen.

For this reason, Bunta decided to stay behind the guy for the first half of the race so that he could absorb as much as possible from his opponent's driving style and, soon enough, he found that he could copy a few of the highly advanced techniques without too many problems.

'Right,' he muttered, 'it's time to end this.'

From what he had seen during the previous laps there was only one point in the whole course in which overtaking wasn't impossible because, for some reason, the GTO's driver seemed to have a bit of a problem dealing with the thirteenth corner of the track, which was also known as The Spoon because if its characteristic shape.

With the two cars quickly approaching that sector of the circuit, Bunta made sure that the front of his GT-R was stuck to the Mitsubishi's rear bumper then, the instant the GTO started sliding outwards, leaving a slight gap in the inside of the sharp turn, Bunta did what he had planned all along:

Mimicking the gutter run he had learned in Akina, he pushed his car to the very edge of the tarmac and into the impossibly small space between it and the GTO, hoping against hope that its driver wouldn't suddenly decide to send him out of the track. Then, just as he had managed to level his car with the Mitsubishi, something odd happened.

'What the…'

He never finished the sentence for, right at that moment, as though as the GT-R had a life of its own, it seemed to propel itself forward a lot faster than before making it thus possible for Bunta to, not only easily overtake the GTO but also having a much welcomed extra speed as he did so.

'I can't believe it,' he muttered to himself, stealing a quick glance at the rear view mirror, just to make sure that the GTO was indeed behind him. It was but, just in case Bunta floored the accelerator so that he could use the short straight to put as much distance as possible between him and the GTO.

He had either been super lucky, or he had found a fantastic new technique which would be used only in extremely wet conditions: the grass which bordered the track, soaked with water, had made his car go into some sort of controlled aquaplaning which had made the car go a lot faster than it should have.

At any rate, he didn't care about that, he was ahead and that was all that mattered.

All he needed to do now was to stay that way for the twenty or so laps which remained till the end of the race. Alas, the GTO's driver didn't seem very inclined to let him have his way quite so easily and soon enough, Bunta started feeling the stress of being ahead.

'Shit,' he mumbled breathlessly after he had somehow managed to block the Mitsubishi for what felt like the umpteenth time in just a handful of laps and despite the coldness which reigned outside the car, he was drenched in sweat. For the first time ever, Bunta started considering that being ahead in a race which lasted for as long as this one wasn't as advantageous as it seemed.

In fact, it was making things horrendously difficult for him and he was beginning to have trouble controlling the car the way he wanted. Just to add more pressure to the whole thing, it was starting to rain heavily again and the visibility was getting poorer and poorer.

Soon he was sure he wouldn't be able to see anything. The only consolation being that the GTO, on top of the rain, also had to deal with the spray coming out of the back of Bunta's Nissan. It was precisely the curtain of water he left behind which prevented Bunta from seeing what the Mitsubishi did next.

Despite the slight but sudden change of lighting conditions under the circuit's infamous overpass, Bunta saw that the GTO had somehow managed to level with his GT-R and before he could even think of doing something to prevent it, he watched impotently as the Mitsubishi darted past him.

'What the…'

Bunta almost jumped onto the brake pedal while the Mitsubishi cut into his racing line, reclaiming the first position in the process, position which he didn't abandon until less than six laps later when they took the chequered flag. The young man didn't even feel ashamed to admit it: that GTO driver was amazing!

Parking his car under the podium and next to the Mitsubishi, Bunta climbed out of it and before Midori could monopolise his attention, he removed both his helmet and gloves and walked to his rival then, offering his right hand to him, he said:

'Hey, that was an amazing move you did there.'

'Look who's talking,' the guy said smiling, 'what you did at The Spoon freaked the heck out of me. What on earth did you do?'

'No idea,' Bunta replied in all honesty making the guy let out an amused chuckle then, getting serious, he asked:

'What's your name?'

'Fujiwara Bunta.'

'Mine is Omura Senkichi,' the GTO driver replied, 'I hope we'll have many races like this one.'

'Well, I don't,' Bunta replied shocking the poor Omura. Then, offering one of his best smirks, he explained, 'you know, I am planning on winning one or two races at some point.'

'I'm sure you are,' Omura replied returning the smirk and seemed like he was going to add something else but, the sudden arrival of their respective teams' crews cut their conversation short. It didn't matter, it had lasted enough for Bunta to form a very positive opinion about the guy and something told him that it was going to be a lot of fun racing with him in the future…

'Son,' Itachi-san said, 'I knew you were going to be great!'

'Hey, I came second,' Bunta felt the need to specify.

'In your FIRST race,' Midori pointed out before kissing him on his cheek, 'I'm so proud of you!'

'Yeah, well…'

The only one who wasn't too happy about any of it was Takashi but Bunta couldn't care less. He didn't even blink when Takashi asked to have a word with him after they had got the car back into the garage. If anything, he had somehow seen it coming…

'What's up?' Bunta asked challengingly, 'want some lessons on how to end a race?'

'Yes,' was Takashi's surprising reply, 'that's exactly what I want.'

'I was kidding, you know?'

'Well, I'm not,' Takashi replied. Bunta started looking around himself, suspecting that someone was going to pop out announcing that he'd been a victim of some weird candid camera show then, seeing that it wasn't happening, he looked at his team mate and said:

'You're serious…'

'Yes,' Takashi replied, 'like you said, we're never going to be friends…'

'Definitely not,' Bunta interrupted him.

'…but you might become my brother in law,' Takashi said and that did unsettle Bunta a little, 'and as much as I hate to admit it,' he stopped speaking as though as he was having trouble uttering the words he wanted to say, 'okay, you're a bit better racer than I am.'

Bunta couldn't repress a snort.

'Piss off, will you?' Takashi hissed furiously.

'It's okay,' Bunta said enjoying himself beyond what was decent, 'I'll help you.'

With that and leaving an ashen faced Takashi behind, Bunta walked towards where Midori was, thinking that maybe, just maybe, his team mate had finally decided to acknowledge who was the number one driver in the team...

A few days later, Bunta was about to climb behind the wheel of his beloved 2000GT so that he could drive it to the usual restaurant where he usually met with Yuuichi and the rest of the gang when he saw his uncle walking up the street on his way back to the shop.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'how was the stroll?'

'Boring,' Eikichi replied.

'But you're feeling much better these days, aren't you?'

'Bunta,' Eikichi said, 'I told you I wouldn't die, didn't I?'

'Eikichi…'

'Hey,' the older man interrupted him, 'I'm okay. Don't worry about me. You need to focus on your racing career right now, just because you did well in the last race…'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'I'm not going to relax, if anything I'll have to work harder on getting even better.'

'That's right,' Eikichi confirmed, giving him one of his rare smiles.

'I hope you'll do that too,' Bunta said then, lowering his tone a little, he added, 'promise me you'll do that.'

Instead of answering, Eikichi grasped his nephew's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Then, nodding a couple of times, he walked into his tofu shop. Bunta stayed there for a few instants looking worried but, ultimately deciding that the only thing he could do was to trust his uncle, he opened the 2000GT's door and with a swift move, climbed behind its steering wheel.

Momiji Lane wasn't that far from Shibukawa but, apparently, the drive was long enough for the poor Yuuichi to get horribly tense about this race and by the time they got to the summit of the wide and modern looking mountain pass, the poor guy looked paler than ever.

'What's up with you?' Bunta asked him as his best friend climbed out of his Mazda Capella which, for the time being, was parked next to Masashi's red Fairlady Z.

'He's nervous,' the Akina Firebolt's leader said stating the obvious.

'No, really?' Bunta asked him sarcastically then, looking at Yuuichi whose complexion was now getting a delicate shade of green, he said, 'hey, you'll be fine. Trust me. This is a friendly challenge, isn't it?'

'Yeah but…' Yuuichi started.

'Didn't Sato say that he wanted to race you for the fun of it?'

'Yes but…'

'Then, don't get nervous. Just race and try having fun yourself.'

Yuuichi looked like he wanted to reply but, noticing that quite a few people were beginning to get there, he decided to let it be. Just in case, Bunta decided to try and instil some courage in his friend by giving him the same squeeze his uncle had tried to reassure him with.

'Oh sh…' the two best friends heard Masashi whimper.

Bunta was about to ask what was wrong now when he saw an only too familiar looking set of headlights coming up the road. He couldn't believe his own eyes: what in the heavens was Kogashiwa doing there?

'Fujiwara,' the guy said climbing out of his beautifully kept Nissan.

'You know,' Bunta started, 'I'm seriously beginning to think you're in love with me.'

'You wish,' Kogashiwa said smiling humourlessly, 'I'm only here because I heard you'd be coming up and I wanted to see what you're riding now,' he then swept the small car park with his eyes, widening them when he saw Bunta's white Toyota 2000GT.

'As usual,' Bunta started, 'I keep on disappointing you.'

'How did you…'

'Hey, you're not the only one with resources, you know.'

'What did you do to it?' Kogashiwa asked unable to hide the curiosity from his tone of voice. Bunta briefly considered asking him to mind his own business but, since they weren't in such bad terms anymore, he decided to tell him, if only to see the guy's expression when he did.

'I've installed a modified version of the 3M engine.'

'Modified?' Kogashiwa asked, still obviously fishing for information.

'Let's just say this,' Bunta replied, 'it makes the original one feel like a granny's pushbike.'

'Tell me the figures,' Kogashiwa demanded.

'Alright, alright,' Bunta conceded, 'although it's based on the original 3M, this one is a two point three litre like the MF-12's 2M. Right now it's tuned to give around one hundred and seventy five horsepower but I'm told is nowhere near its true potential. Impressed?'

'Very,' Kogashiwa answered with more honesty than Bunta had ever seen coming from the guy. 'Fujiwara, if it weren't because I said we wouldn't race…'

He never finished the sentence because, right at that moment, Yuuichi's rival finally showed up: a few instants after hearing its engine, the dark brown Honda S800 pulled next to where they were and Sato climbed out of the car looking happy but slightly anxious.

'Sorry for being late,' he quickly apologised.

'Nah,' Yuuichi replied, 'we just got here.'

'Ah, thank goodness,' Sato said, 'I had to do some overtime tonight and…'

'Hey,' Yuuichi interrupted, 'it really is fine. We just got here a few minutes ago.'

'Ah, okay,' a flustered Sato said, 'well, if you need some time to practice…'

'He'll be fine,' Bunta hurried to say, 'won't you Yuuichi?'

'Yeah,' his best friend replied, 'I'll be fine,' he added with as much conviction as he could. Bunta thought that Yuuichi would never change and while he observed the two cars moving towards the starting point, he found himself praying so that Yuuichi would win this race too.

His self-confidence needed it.

_To be continued…_


	50. Chapter Forty Nine

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Forty Nine_

One of the characteristics that Momiji Lane shared with a few other mountain passes like Usui was that the downhill races didn't start with both cars lined up next to each other. Instead, and since he was "away" racer, Yuuichi placed his Mazda ahead of Sato's S800 at the exit of the small car park used by the few tourists who visited this part of the Tochigi prefecture.

'I hope he'll be alright,' Masashi said, talking to Bunta in a low tone of voice.

'Of course he will be,' the younger guy replied dryly.

'I didn't mean…'

'Masashi,' Bunta cut him off, 'he'll be fine. You really should give the poor guy some more credit…'

'I know,' Masashi said, 'it's just that…'

'He'll be fine,' Bunta insisted, 'you'll see, Yuuichi will win this race, I'm sure of it.'

'That's some wild prediction,' Kogashiwa commented, reminding Bunta that for some weird reason he was still there, 'unless you know something we don't...'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked him.

'Has Tachibana done anything to his car too?' Kogashiwa asked back.

'Nothing special,' Bunta revealed, 'but he's been practicing a lot.'

'I see,' Kogashiwa said, 'well, I'll let you watch the start of the race but, after that, us two need to talk.'

'Kogashiwa,' Bunta said smirking sarcastically, 'you sound more and more like a girlfriend.'

'I'm serious,' Kogashiwa replied, 'there's something I needed to speak to you about and, since we're both here we might as well get it out of the way.'

With that and not giving Bunta the time to say anything, the guy just walked away to join a couple of locals who seemed to be friends of his. He hated to admit it but, Kogashiwa never left him feeling indifferent and, right now, he was curious. Just what was so important to be so serious about it?

For some reason, Bunta found himself staring at Kogashiwa's Nissan.

'_If it weren't because I said we wouldn't race…' _Kogashiwa had told him earlier, if he wanted to be honest with himself, he was dying to race against Kogashiwa with his rebuilt 2000GT, if only so that he could test the new engine in real racing conditions.

'No,' Bunta said, speaking out loud.

'No?' a confused looking Masashi asked him, 'what's…'

He stopped talking for, right at that instant, a chubby looking guy went to stand next to the two cars and, raising his left arm, he started shouting the countdown.

The Mazda and the Honda took off so fast that Bunta couldn't even tell who was ahead of whom, also because the configuration of the course started with a very sharp first corner which swallowed both cars the minute they started the race.

'So much for a friendly race,' Masashi couldn't help but to say.

'I know,' Bunta agreed. Regardless of what he had said earlier, he was really worried about Yuuichi. True, the guy had practiced a lot, the Capella was in pristine condition and its engine was, at least theoretically speaking, a lot more powerful than the S800's.

However, the fact that they were going downhill voided that specific advantage meaning that Yuuichi would have to rely mainly on his own skills and that's what made Bunta concerned. He had never had the heart to say so to his best friend but, if Bunta wanted to be honest, Yuuichi would never be anything but a fair driver…

'Hey,' Masashi said interrupting his train of thought, 'are you worried about what Kogashiwa said earlier?'

'Eh?' Bunta asked then, before Masashi could reformulate the question, he shook his head and lied, 'no, I'm not worried about that…'

'Then, why are you frowning?'

'It's nothing,' Bunta replied stubbornly.

'Bunta…'

'You know what,' Bunta said, 'now you mention it, I'll go and speak to Kogashiwa myself. The sooner we speak, the sooner he'll leave.'

Half a dozen corners into the course, Yuuichi was having a much easier time than he had anticipated and that, conversely, made him feel even more anxious than usual. To begin with, Sato hadn't even attempted once to overtake him despite the fact that they were currently cruising along the easiest part of Momiji Lane were passing was relatively easy.

In fact, he knew that things were going to get a lot more complicated later on, when they would reach the middle sector of the road which was steeper and presented sharper corners and an ever menacing wall that covered the right hand side of the course. Yuuichi had heard many horror stories of people crashing badly against that wall...

'What's he waiting for?' Yuuichi muttered to himself while stealing a quick glance at the rear view mirror seeing that, for some strange reason, the dark brown Honda was keeping itself at an even distance.

Returning his attention to the road ahead, Yuuichi tried to force himself to forget about the S800. It wasn't his problem if Sato didn't want to overtake him. Right now, all he needed to focus on was getting to the bottom of the pass in one piece.

Feeling the pull from the G-forces while he cleared a left-hander made him realise that they had reached the infamous middle sector. Yuuichi felt very pleased with the way his car was handling itself and was grateful of the many hours Bunta had spent working with him so that the Capella would be in perfect conditions for this race.

Granted, its one and a half litre engine would never be as powerful as the beauty which slept under the 2000GT's bonnet but he didn't care, considering that quite a lot of the parts were still stock, his Capella performed much better than most cars and he was super-proud of it.

Yuuichi was about to enter another lefthander when he decided to check the rear view mirror again.

'What the...'

It wasn't there! The S800 had disappeared.

Yuuichi's brain had only just began to process that information when, all of a sudden and out of the blue, he saw the front of the dark brown Honda appearing at the right side of his car making the young man wonder how in the heck had Sato managed to close the gap.

Needless to say, he didn't have the time to think about something so trivial. Instead, he struggled with the steering wheel so that he could keep the car in the inside of the corner, hoping that Sato would give up his attack for lack of enough space.

What happened next was just inside a handful of milliseconds: at the turn's exit, Yuuichi saw the S800 backing off, only to switch to the outside and, one clean manoeuvre later, the young man found himself staring at the back of the Honda.

'Shit,' Yuuichi breathed, his brow moist with cold sweat and a nasty sensation forming inside his stomach. He couldn't lose again! He simply couldn't!

Meanwhile, back at the summit's the car park, Bunta was unable to believe what he had just heard. He knew that Kogashiwa was, at best, slightly mental but what he was suggesting was downright psychotic. Just in case and praying so that it was all just a stupid misunderstanding, Bunta said:

'You're kidding, right?'

'No,' was Kogashiwa's shocking reply.

'You're not?' Bunta asked, now definitely getting worried.

'No,' Kogashiwa repeated, 'listen, I've told you, I've got in touch with this guy…'

'Hold on a second,' Bunta stopped him, passing his hand over his face in a pretty useless attempt at trying to buy himself time, 'you know that I'm racing in the Fuji Series right now, don't you?'

'Yes,' Kogashiwa replied, 'but we both know you're wasting your time there.'

'Why is that?' Bunta asked, admiring himself for just how patient and understanding he was being.

'Because circuit racing is boring, and you know it.'

Bunta stared at his best enemy for a long time, trying to make some sense out of this extraordinarily bizarre conversation. Seeing that he was failing miserably, he decided to give up and after nodding a couple of times, he said:

'I admit that street racing can be more exciting…'

'I knew it!' Kogashiwa exclaimed triumphantly.

'…but,' Bunta continued, 'I think I want to aim for the JTCC.'

'Why?' Kogashiwa asked, 'you should move to rallying.'

'With you?' Bunta said.

'Yes,' Kogashiwa replied, 'I've been thinking…'

'Oh, can you do that?' Bunta asked feigning surprise. Kogashiwa glared at him before forcing himself to continue:

'You know that we're still far from having things settled between the two of us and I thought that if we could race officially, we'd be able to tell who is the best.'

'We don't need to race officially to figure that out,' Bunta said smirking arrogantly.

'That's right,' an oblivious Kogashiwa said, 'we both know that I'm the best in terms of street racing but…'

'I'm leaving,' Bunta interrupted him.

'No!' Kogashiwa said, 'wait! This guy…'

'Okay, that's enough,' Bunta said, 'seriously, I'm not interested. I don't want to get into rallying, no matter what that Toda friend of yours says.'

'It's Todou,' Kogashiwa corrected him, 'and he's right, you belong on the roads with us, not the circuits.'

'You and that Todou guy are nuts,' Bunta concluded, 'and I'm out of here.'

He started walking away when he felt Kogashiwa's hand on his shoulder. Instinctively, Bunta curled both of his hands into fists and, slowly, he turned round glaring at his best enemy with as much intensity as he could manage.

'Fujiwara,' Kogashiwa said, clearly trying his best to ignore Bunta's anger, 'tell me you'll think about it.'

'No,' Bunta replied bluntly, 'I'm happy where I am and you should mind your own business.'

Turning round once again, Bunta made his way back to where Masashi finding it almost funny the way the Akina Firebolts' leader pretended to not have been paying attention to his conversation with Kogashiwa.

'What did he want?' Masashi asked.

'Nothing important,' Bunta replied while sitting down on top of the 2000GT's boot. He then busied himself trying to clean a non existent smudge on its immaculate surface.

'Seriously,' Masashi insisted, 'what did he want?'

'He said he wanted me to switch to rallying,' Bunta finally gave up, 'but I told him he's nuts.'

'Why is he asking you to do that?' Masashi said.

'No idea,' Bunta replied, 'maybe he feels lonely,' he added smiling sarcastically.

'You know,' Masashi said, 'I think he's right.'

'Eh?'

'Honestly Bunta,' the slightly older guy said, 'I think it's a good idea.'

'No it's not,' Bunta contradicted him, 'it's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a long time. I'm aiming for the JTCC and I'm already on the right track. Rallying can wait for later.'

'So you're thinking about it,' Masashi said.

'No,' Bunta replied, 'I'm thinking of the Fuji Series. That's where I have to focus my attention. If I start daydreaming then I won't be able to give everything I have to what I'm doing now, will I?'

Masashi looked at him for a few instants then, slowly, he shook his head.

'You're right,' he said, 'you know, you're rather impressive.'

'I know,' Bunta replied, his arrogant smirk coming back to his features. This made Masashi chuckle: if only Bunta could give part of his natural self-confidence to Yuuichi, the guy would have won every race he'd taken part of.

Meanwhile, the S800 and the Capella had just entered the final part of the course with the Honda still leading the way. Yuuichi had never been in anymore need of a miracle for he honestly didn't see any other way of overtaking his opponent.

Things had got even more difficult for him ever since the two cars had reached that particular sector of the road because Yuuichi quickly noticed how Sato's control of his S800 seemed to be even better there than it had been up to now.

Forcing himself to calm down, Yuuichi started doing his best to figure out if there was anything wrong in the way Sato entered the corners, doing what Bunta had told him to do: trying to spot any weaknesses he could then use to his own advantage. Sadly, Sato was clearing the corners in an impeccable manner.

'There has to be something!' Yuuichi cried in desperation.

Using the illumination provided by the Capella's headlights, the young man saw one of the elements which made this road particularly famous: the unusually deep, uncovered gutter which ran along the side of road.

At the same time, he was also given the chance he had been looking for:

Whenever the S800 entered a right hand corner, Sato seemed to leave a much bigger space than it was really necessary, probably because he was afraid of losing control of his car if he drove too close to the gutter.

Yuuichi knew that Sato's fear was well justified but, for once, he decided to throw caution out of the window and do something he suspected was second-nature to Bunta: go for it without caring about the consequences.

He waited patiently for the following right-hander, being careful to stay almost literally glued to the S800's rear bumper then, just as Sato started steering away from the gutter, Yuuichi pushed his car to the very edge of the road then, fighting the urge to shut his eyes closed, the young man opened the throttle and hoped for the best.

The two cars cleared the corner at the same exact level but with Yuuichi's car being more powerful and having a lot more momentum, it was almost a walk in the park for the Shibukawa man to get ahead in the following lefthander.

'Yes!' Yuuichi screamed happily. He had done it, he had passed the Honda!

The last time he had felt this much happy had been when Fuka had accepted his marriage proposal. Not only that but, right then, he finally understood the reason why Bunta had such a strong self-confidence: it felt supremely liberating to do something as seemingly impossible as what he had just done.

It was an amazing feeling to which he could definitely get used to…

Glancing at the rear view mirror for one last time, seeing that the S800 was staying behind his Capella, Yuuichi returned his attention, breathing deeply so that he could gather all the energy he had left in order to concentrate for the final part of the race when, all of a sudden, he saw something standing right in the middle of the road.

'What the…'

Without having the time to wonder what it was, Yuuichi steered hard towards the right in a desperate attempt to avoid the obstacle. He let his car slide past it and would have cleared it if it wasn't because the young man had just made a massive miscalculation.

'No, no, no…' he muttered desperately, realising that he had lost control of the rear of his car.

Yuuichi didn't even have the chance to start worrying about the S800's exact location for, right at that moment, he felt as the rear tyre from the right hand side lowered into the gutter, scraping underneath the car in the process making such a horrible noise that it made Yuuichi's insides cringe in suffering.

Thankfully, a miracle stopped the Capella from capsizing. Instead, the tyre just got stuck into the gutter and the whole car came to a halt a few, eternally long instants later. Yuuichi had never felt any more like crying…

'Hey,' he somehow heard Sato say, 'HEY! Are you okay?'

He lifted his head up and through the passenger's window, in spite of the darkness which reigned outside, he saw Sato's extremely anguished face looking at him.

'I'm okay,' he mumbled while nodding. He then fumbled with the seatbelt's buckle, damning the thing for not being easier to open and when, at long last, it did open, he realised that with the car being tilted the way it was, he would need to scramble his way out of it.

'Are you okay?' Sato repeated the second Yuuichi emerged from the inside of his car.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, 'my car isn't though.'

Sato stared at him for a short time then, biting his lower lip, he said, 'let's get it out of the gutter, okay?'

'Yeah.'

'I can't believe it though,' Sato continued, 'that thing didn't move even when your car went past it.'

For the first time, Yuuichi went to look at the spot of the road where the animal had been standing. Needless to say, it was no longer there having probably run back into the forest but, unfortunately for Yuuichi, it had done so way too late.

'What was it?' he found the strength to ask.

'No idea,' Sato replied, 'maybe it was a wild boar, there are some around this area.'

'A wild boar?' Yuuichi asked in disbelief.

'I'm not sure,' Sato replied, 'come on, let's see if we can get your car out of there.'

'It doesn't matter,' Yuuichi said dejectedly, 'if you could just go back up and ask my friends to come down and help me.'

'No way,' Sato interrupted him, 'it'll take too long.'

With that and without waiting for Yuuichi to follow him suit, Sato just went to the right side of the Capella and, on his own, started trying to lift it up. Yuuichi would have found the whole thing funny if it wasn't because he knew that he would have to spend a small fortune repairing the car.

'It doesn't matter,' he repeated, now more to himself than to anyone else.

'I said it…' Sato started.

'No,' Yuuichi said, 'I meant that I'm not going to race anymore. I promised to myself that I would stop if I didn't win this race.'

'But you HAVE won,' Sato replied, finally giving up his silly attempt at trying to free the Mazda by himself.

'What?' Yuuichi asked, 'how can I have won? Look at my…'

'You overtook me,' Sato said, 'we both know that if it hadn't been because of that animal, I wouldn't have passed you again. There are only a few more corners till the end of the course. You had the race and you know it.'

'But…'

'Listen, don't say you're going to quit,' Sato said, 'now that I've found a good rival.'

'Look,' Yuuichi said, 'it's not only this race. I'm saving up so that I can marry my girlfriend soon and I can't afford to spend the kind of money I'd need to get the car back in some sort of decent shape. At least not in the near future…'

'Okay,' Sato said, 'I get it. Let's make a deal then.'

'What deal?'

'I've just got into racing,' Sato replied, 'and so far I've only practiced here and I'm driving an underpowered car which, let's face it, is not going to make me win races if we're going uphill.'

'So, what are you saying?' Yuuichi asked.

'Let's meet up in a couple of years,' Sato said, 'I'll have a better car and I'll have practiced a lot more…unless your future wife disapproves of your racing.'

'No, she doesn't,' Yuuichi replied, 'she's quite the fan.'

'Okay then,' Sato said, 'do we have a deal?'

Yuuichi looked at the smiling guy for a little bit then, deciding that the whole thing sounded pretty sensible, he nodded and offered him his right hand. Sato took it in his and gave it a short but firm shake.

'Good,' the guy said, 'now let's get this baby out of the gutter.'

When a few hours later he, Bunta and Masashi got the poor Mazda Capella down from the towing truck they had used to carry it all the way from Tochigi to Shibukawa, neither of the two guys had the heart to make fun of him and, for that, Yuuichi felt forever grateful.

'I have an idea,' Bunta announced while he and Masashi covered the car with a large piece of cloth, 'what do you say if I take you to practice tomorrow morning?'

'Eh?' Yuuichi said.

'That sounds great,' Masashi said, 'you've never been to one of Bunta's practices, have you?'

'No, I haven't but…'

'You don't have to work tomorrow, do you?' Bunta asked him.

'No, I don't but…'

'Then you're coming with me,' Bunta said resolutely. Then, clearly considering the matter as settled, both he and Masashi closed the gate to Nitta-san's repair shop and started walking back to the Fairlady Z and the 2000GT leaving a resigned Yuuichi behind, 'hey!' he heard Bunta shout, 'you want to walk back home or what?'

Yuuichi laughed softly before running towards the Toyota, climbing into the passenger's seat as quickly as he could. He then leant his head onto the headrest and closed his eyes, finding the sound of the 2000GT's engine as soothing as the classic music he enjoyed so much.

'It'll be fine,' he heard Bunta say, 'it's only minor damage to the suspension and to the bodywork; you'll see we'll get it fixed in no time.'

'I know,' Yuuichi said looking at his best friend then, something made him add, 'thanks.'

'Don't mention it,' Bunta replied, 'so, shall I pick you up at six?'

'Do I have a choice?' Yuuichi asked.

'You know you don't,' Bunta replied with the tone of voice which meant that he knew he was going to get his way. Yuuichi wanted to hate Bunta for just how super-confident the guy was but, truth be told, it was one of the things he liked the best about his best friend. For this reason, he sighed heavily and said:

'Okay, six it is then.'

_To be continued…_


	51. Chapter Fifty

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty_

Shibukawa – Februrary 1975

Despite the fact that he had had over four years to get used to the idea, Bunta still found it hard to believe that Yuuichi was about to become a married man. Only seeing his best friend standing in front of the mirror in his room donning his most formal attire made the whole thing very much real.

'What's wrong?' Yuuichi asked him while he tried to tame his hair for the umpteenth time.

'Nothing,' Bunta muttered.

'Why are you staring at me like that then?' his best friend insisted, a little smile starting to form on his kind looking face.

'Aren't you nervous?' Bunta asked him.

'Nope,' Yuuichi replied and observing him closely, Bunta confirmed that indeed, the young man looked as relaxed as if he were about to go out to the convenience store rather than to his own wedding. That made Bunta shake his head in disbelief.

'You know,' he teased, 'only you could choose to get married on Valentine's day.'

Yuuichi, cleverly ignoring his best friend's sarcastic tone, offered a self-satisfied smile and, giving Bunta a very patronising look, he said:

'You have no idea of how happy Fuka was when I suggested it.'

'I can imagine,' Bunta commented flatly then, taking a quick look at the clock which hung from one of the walls in Yuuichi's semi-deserted room, he said, 'you need to hurry up or your bride will get to the temple before you do.'

'Oh sh…' Yuuichi muttered and, for the first time, the almost twenty three year old looked a little bit anxious, 'if we don't leave now…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted him, 'aren't you forgetting something?'

Yuuichi stared at him and then looked around the nearly empty room trying to find whatever he had lost then, giving up, he shook his head inquisitively.

'I'm driving,' Bunta said smirking amusedly, 'remember?'

The half relieved, half terrified expression on his best friend's face made Bunta burst out laughing and, before Yuuichi could come up with something to say, he got up from the only chair which was left in the room and started making his way to the door.

'You know,' Yuuichi said following him, 'I still can't believe that last night was the last time I will ever sleep in this room. It's going to be weird, don't you think?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied sardonically, 'sleeping with your wife is definitely so weird.'

'Bunta!' Yuuichi protested. 'That's not what I meant and you know it.'

'Whatever,' Bunta said making a little dismissing wave with his hand, 'now, unless we hurry I'm going to have to drive fast...'

Predictably enough, Yuuichi overtook him while running down the stairs and before Bunta could get to the Tachibana's living room, his best friend was already out of the house. That made Bunta laugh again and his good mood only got better while he drove the 2000GT all the way up to the little temple by Mt Akina's lake.

Unfortunately, his mirth died the minute he parked his beloved car and saw a very familiar looking woman talking to Fuka's mum and Yuuichi's parents. He knew that she was going to be there, having been Fuka's best friend since like forever but, still, it hit him pretty hard seeing his ex-girlfriend Seiko there. Even more so because she was obviously very pregnant.

'Hello Bunta,' she said when he and Yuuichi approached the group of four people. She still was as stunningly good looking as he remembered.

'Hi,' Bunta replied, 'it's been a long time.'

'It has,' she replied.

'Where is your husband?' he couldn't help but to ask while he applauded himself for keeping such a neutral tone of voice.

'At the restaurant,' she replied biting her lower lip then, almost subconsciously, she placed her hand onto her swollen tummy, 'he's there with our first born.'

'Ah,' Bunta gasped, 'you…'

'This will be our second child,' she explained.

'That's great!' Yuuichi intervened, clearly unaware of the tension which had formed between the former couple, 'I can't wait to have kids myself!'

Seiko let out a soft giggle and, patting her tummy, she said, 'I hope so too. Maybe this way Fuka will stop asking me what it feels like being pregnant!'

The arrival of the temple's officer fortunately prevented the conversation to go any further and, at long last, the groom, his parents, Fuka's mum and the two witnesses walked into the room where the ceremony would be conducted so that they could wait for Fuka and her father inside.

Bunta felt almost relieved that only the family and the couple's two witnesses were allowed to attend the religious function for that had given him the perfect excuse to ask Midori to wait for him in the restaurant where they would celebrate Fuka and Yuuichi's marriage.

It was weird enough seeing Seiko after so long without having Midori there too.

In the two years he'd been racing in the Itachi Racing Team, Bunta had learned a lot about the professional racing world and he knew very well that a large part of the merit of his victory in the previous year's Fuji Freshman Series was due to the fact that Midori had never stopped supporting him.

However, and despite knowing how much he owed to his current girlfriend and to her father, there was something about the deal he had made with Itachi-san which made him feel increasingly uneasy.

He hadn't talked about this with anyone, not even Eikichi, but he was finding it harder and harder to stay focused on his career and very often Bunta found himself wondering if he should have listened to Kogashiwa when he advised him to move on to the Rallying Championship.

'No…' he muttered.

'Eh?' Yuuichi asked him and that made Bunta realise that he was still inside the temple with Yuuichi by his side.

'Nothing,' Bunta hurried to reply, 'talking to myself.'

'Ah, okay,' Yuuichi said and, for some reason, he made it look as though as if it were normal for him to hear Bunta talking to himself. Yet again, it _was _rather normal for Bunta to speak his mind aloud these days. He made a mental note to try and stop doing it in the future.

At long last, the temple's sliding door opened to reveal a beautiful Fuka wearing the traditional bridal kimono which, according to Yuuichi, was passed on from one generation to the other in the girl's family. At any rate, Bunta had to give it to Yuuichi: his wife-to-be looked absolutely gorgeous.

'Oh wow…' was all that the poor groom could manage upon seeing her. Bunta looked at him and saw that his best friend's face was the perfect picture of love. It was nothing short of a miracle that he actually found his voice to articulate his vows.

Thirty minutes later, the newly married couple walked into the nearby restaurant followed by Bunta, Seiko and the two sets of parents and, as always, Midori jumped to her boyfriend's side the second he got within three meters of her.

'I've missed you!' she exclaimed nearly strangling his arm in the process.

'Yeah,' he muttered, 'me too,' he forced himself to add.

'She's so cute,' Midori said pointing at Fuka, 'I wonder if I'll look as cute as she does.'

'Eh?' Bunta asked, pretending that he didn't know what she was talking about. Of course, he knew only too well: Midori hadn't stopped talking about the same thing in the past two or so years.

'The wedding kimono,' she explained with her usual sweetness, 'do you think it'll look good on me?'

'You know it will,' Bunta replied, doing his best to sound casual, somehow failing miserably. That made Midori give him the sort of look she always gave him whenever she wasn't pleased. Funnily enough, he had been getting those sort of stares pretty often lately.

Thankfully, his girlfriend knew better than to make a huge deal of it there. She would patiently wait till they were alone to start another one of her monologues. The kind which made Bunta want to fall asleep so that he could ignore her.

'Hey,' Yuuichi said coming towards the couple, 'Bunta, we need to take our seats.'

'Okay,' Bunta replied and, yet again, he felt relieved that he had been placed at the main table, leaving Midori to sit somewhere with a few random relatives of Fuka, 'I'll speak to you later, okay?'

Midori just nodded. Oh man, he was in trouble…again.

Shaking his head in resignation, he just followed Yuuichi towards their seats. There and using up the chance that everyone was busy finding their seats and chatting with each other, Yuuichi leant towards his best friend and whispered:

'Have you got her upset again?'

'Yeah,' Bunta confessed.

'What is it this time?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Same old story,' Bunta replied then, as an afterthought, he looked at Yuuichi in the eye and said, 'I just don't feel like marrying her right now. I'm too young.'

Yuuichi glanced quickly towards Midori then he looked at his wife and finally at his best friend. Then, using an even lower tone of voice, he asked:

'Now, three more years…is it really going to make any difference?'

Bunta couldn't reply to that question since all of a sudden everyone in the room went quiet while the entrée was brought in by the restaurant's staff. Nevertheless, that didn't stop him from answering it to himself. He and Midori had been together for over three years yet, the longer it went on, the less Bunta felt like tying the knot with her.

Maybe Yuuichi was right…maybe it was due time he made a decision, after all, he was only twenty two, nearly twenty three years old but Midori was about to turn twenty six. She really couldn't waste much more time, could she?

Excepting Seiko's seventeen month old son throwing a tantrum half way through the meal, everything else went on without a glitch so, by the time the newly married couple were finally allowed to leave for the evening, both Fuka and Yuuichi looked positively radiant.

'I'm so jealous…' Bunta heard Seiko say. He was surprised to see her there with her husband and their child but, again, everyone had gathered at the restaurant's entrance to say their good-byes to the happy couple.

'Why is that dear?' her husband asked her. He was a man in his mid-thirties dressed in a very expensive looking suit which made Bunta's best clothes look rather shabby.

'Oh,' Seiko said, 'I'd just love going off to Okinawa like them.'

'But we went there on our honeymoon,' the husband commented.

'I know,' Seiko replied, 'but that was ages ago!'

'Okay,' he said, 'let's do this, when the baby will be old enough to travel, I'll take some time off from work so that the kids get to see the place. What do you think?'

Seiko's happy smile was all the answer her husband needed and with this settled, she turned her attention back to Bunta and proceeded to explain to her husband all about Bunta's glorious victory in the Fuji Freshman Series.

'Oh!' the older man exclaimed, 'I saw that on the paper!'

'Ah…' Bunta started.

'Dear,' he continued, 'I didn't know you knew Fujiwara Bunta in person!' he exclaimed then, looking at Bunta, he added, 'I'm quite a big fan of your team. I hope you'll make it big in motor sports!'

Things were getting so bizarre for Bunta that, at some point, he almost expected his dead parents to walk into the room telling him that it was all some sort of sick joke for nothing else justified the fact of having his ex girlfriend's husband declaring himself a fan of his.

'Oh,' Midori intervened, making Bunta aware that she as there too, making things even weirder, 'he's just very modest. He's not used to being famous yet.'

'I'm _not_ famous,' Bunta tried in vain to protest.

'You are,' Seiko's husband said, 'at work there's a whole bunch of us who are keeping an eye on you.'

'Is that so?' Bunta asked, refusing to believe his own ears.

'See what I have to deal with?' Midori said laughing softly, grabbing Bunta's arm possessively. For some odd reason, Bunta felt like snatching his arm from her grasp and try to run away as fast as he could, alas, he knew that he was trapped and, going against his instincts, he just forced himself to smile.

How he managed to get through the ordeal was truly beyond him. At any rate, he somehow made it to the end of the party with some resemblance of sanity left in him and, using up the chance given by one of Midori's frequent visits to the lady's room, he walked across the room so that he could go outside to get some fresh air when he spotted a friendly face.

'Hey!' Masashi said, 'geez man, I've been waiting for you to be alone all evening!'

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'the girlfriend's a little…'

'Forget it,' Masashi interrupted him, 'I've been hearing some strange rumours.'

'Rumours?' Bunta asked him then Masashi did something really strange; he took Bunta by his arm and literally dragged him to the garden outside the restaurant. The first thing he noticed was that it was very cold out there.

'Apparently' Masashi whispered, 'we heard that there's some kid in Usui who keeps going on and on about wanting to race you.'

'Eh?' Bunta asked, 'what's his name?'

'I'm not sure,' Masashi replied, 'I think it's something like Keichiro…no…Keiichi something…sorry, I didn't get the full details.'

'Doesn't he know that I've retired from street racing?' Bunta asked.

'I should think he does,' Masashi said, 'after all, everyone knows that you're doing things seriously now. After your win at the Fuji Series, you're not going to go back to street racing…'

'I'm not so sure anymore,' Bunta contradicted him before he could stop himself.

'Bunta…'

'Hey,' the younger man hurried to say, this time offering one of his famous smirks, 'you never know, do you?'

That made Masashi laugh softly. He then punched Bunta playfully onto his arm and said:

'You rascal! One day you'll admit it that you miss street racing.'

Bunta was about to reply when the two men heard Midori's voice calling his name out. Bunta closed his eyes and sighing heavily, half opened them again, looked at the Akina Firebolts' leader and smiling apologetically, he pointed at the restaurant with his thumb and said:

'Duty calls.'

If he had paid more attention at Masashi's face, he would have seen that the slightly older guy looked everything but amused. In reality, Bunta wasn't aware that Yuuichi was worried about him and had asked Masashi to keep an eye on Bunta while he and Fuka were away on their honeymoon.

Masashi knew that Bunta wasn't happy lately, despite his victory in the semi-professional racing league, he wasn't happy at all and his friends were prepared to do anything to make sure he went back to being the guy they all admired and liked.

'Yuuichi,' Masashi said talking to himself, 'leave it to me.'

Four days later and for the first time in almost three years, Bunta prepared himself to leave the tofu shop knowing that he didn't have to pick Yuuichi up so that the two of them could go to the Itachi's small track where Bunta did all his training.

'Hey,' Eikichi said, 'what's up?'

'Nothing,' Bunta replied while busying himself with his shoelaces.

'Okay,' Eikichi conceded, 'you know you can talk to me if you need to, right?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'it's nothing. Honestly.'

Eikichi nodded and then went back to check the machine which condensed the soy milk used to make the tofu. Bunta knew that he wasn't fooling anyone, least of all his very clever uncle but, thankfully everyone seemed like they were giving him the benefit of the doubt.

'Bunta,' Eikichi said just as the young man grabbed the doorknob, 'I'm serious. If you need…'

'…anything you're here,' Bunta finished for him, 'Eikichi, if you aren't careful I'm going to start thinking you care about me…'

Eikichi glared at him but, the amused sparkle in the old man's eyes reassured Bunta more than scared him. It felt good knowing that his uncle would always be by his side. He also knew that sooner or later he would have to talk to him. Maybe that would help him settle things with himself.

Climbing into his trusty 2000GT, he turned it on feeling surprised once again about the latest update applied by Katayama's team. They had been experimenting with something which, in theory, would improve the mix while at the same time would help the engine perform better while saving petrol.

Bunta didn't know whether the car was actually reducing the consumption of gasoline but what he knew was that the Toyota had never been any faster.

'We're a good team, aren't we?' he asked it patting the steering wheel lovingly.

Among many different possibilities for his future career, Bunta was starting to favour the one which saw him as an official test driver for Toyota. After all, he really liked what he was doing with Katayama and Yoshida, even more so because the two older men had become very good friends of his ever since they had made their 'secret' deal.

What he loved the most about it was the fact that he was allowed to see things no one else was for his presence in the research department had become so common that no one even noticed him anymore. This way he was free to wander around the place, seeing new prototypes of engines and witnessing all the different experiments they did to them.

Yeah, that made him very happy.

The Itachi team, on the other hand, had become more like a gruelling task, rather than the dream job he had had in mind when he had signed the contract with them, three long years ago. The only positive thing was that, after two full seasons with him, Takashi had finally learned his place in the team and he and Bunta had almost become friends.

Almost.

'You're late!' Takashi said seeing him getting out of the 2000GT. He was running towards him, smiling in such a way that made Bunta want to get back into the car so that he would drive away. Needless to say, he didn't do that, instead, he pointed at his wristwatch and said:

'No I'm not,' he replied using the monotone he reserved when talking to his team mate, 'I'm five minutes early.'

'I know,' Takashi replied, still looking absurdly happy.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'what's up?'

'I've got great news!' Takashi exclaimed then, for some stupid reason, he refused to continue, blatantly waiting for Bunta to ask him to elaborate. Out of sheer pity, Bunta decided to humour him:

'What's up?'

'My father's signed a super-deal,' Takashi replied, a bit of his usual spoilt-little-brat's arrogance showing up on his face, 'guess who with?'

'No,' Bunta said. Humouring him was one thing, playing silly games with his team mate was another story.

'Geez,' Takashi complained, 'okay, okay, I'll tell you.'

'Please do,' Bunta said feeling that his limited patience was running dangerously low.

'He's signed a deal with the Publication Division 3!' Takashi announced. Seeing Bunta's expressionless face made him add, 'and we're not going to be team mates anymore…'

Bunta was about to interrupt him but, Itachi-san's arrival with the ever present Midori prevented him from saying anything at all. Instead, he noticed that Midori was smiling in an even more alarming way than her younger brother.

'I see my son has already spoiled the surprise,' Itachi-san said.

'What's going on?' Bunta asked him, not bothering with the use of any polite form of speech.

'It's easy,' Itachi-san said, 'what's going to happen is that Takashi will go forward to the JTCC while you will spend one year with Nissan's Publication Division 3. They told me they need an exceptional driver to do some testing for them. Apparently they are preparing a car to debut in one of their International Series.'

'International Series?' Bunta asked in disbelief.

'Yes,' Itachi-san replied, 'I understand that it's frustrating for you to see Takashi going ahead of you but, it's only temporarily. I'm sure that you'll know how to be patient, won't you?'

'Er…'

'Think about it,' Itachi-san continued, 'in this year with them, you'll be working with their research department. Imagine the amount of things you can learn with them!'

Right at that moment Bunta remembered something rather important: how on earth could he possibly work for two different car makes' research departments knowing that, historically, they had always been bitter rivals?

'I understand you're a bit overwhelmed,' Itachi-san said, 'but don't worry, I'm still going to be your manager so you don't have anything to worry about.'

_To be continued…_


	52. Chapter Fifty One

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty One_

After parking his 2000GT outside the tofu shop, Bunta felt a pulsating pain on the right side of his head. He had never had such a powerful headache in his whole life, it was so bad that he felt a wave of dizziness with every step he took towards the old shop's entrance.

'Hey there,' Eikichi greeted him in what Bunta deemed an unnecessarily loud tone of voice.

'Got a headache,' Bunta mumbled, 'I'm going to bed.'

Eikichi didn't make any attempts at trying to stop his nephew and Bunta felt forever grateful for it. With a huge effort, he finally made it upstairs, throwing himself on top of his bed the instant he got inside his bedroom.

He then fell asleep immediately.

Three hours later, he opened his eyes, finding himself covered by one of two chequered blankets his uncle kept in his own room. The old man had also managed to remove his denim jacket and had left a glass of water on top of the bedside table with a couple of aspirins next to it.

'Honestly,' Bunta muttered smiling to himself.

In the four years or so that he'd been living with Eikichi he had grown more and more convinced that his uncle would have probably been a wonderful father. Granted, he had a really peculiar way of showing his affection but, doing little things like those, he really showed that he cared a great deal about his nephew.

Getting up, he took the glass of water and the two aspirins and, despite the fact that his headache was nearly gone, he decided to take the pills anyway. He then folded the blanket as carefully as he could and left it on top of his bed padding across his bedroom so that he could make his way downstairs.

'How are you feeling?' his uncle asked him. The old man was sitting by the low table in the living room browsing the evening news paper.

'I'm better,' Bunta replied, 'thanks for the aspirins.'

Eikichi just smirked at him before returning his attention to the paper. Bunta shook his head a little before walking to the small kitchen so that he could leave the glass into the sink. He stayed there for a few moments trying to find the words he needed to start a very difficult conversation.

'Uncle…'

'Itachi-san called earlier on,' Eikichi interrupted him.

'Ah,' Bunta gasped, 'so, you know…'

'Yeah,' Eikichi replied, 'you're probably confused and want to talk about it, am I right?'

Bunta stared at his uncle and, not for the first time, he wondered if his uncle really had some mind-reading powers. At any rate, he nodded and with that, he sat down at the opposite side of the table. There, he waited for his uncle to fold and set aside the newspaper.

'What am I going to do?' Bunta asked him out of the blue.

Eikichi observed him for a few instants, scratching his left eyebrow with his index fingernail. He then took a deep breath and then, looking at his nephew with an unusually serious expression on his face, he said:

'You know, I don't think you should consider what you're going to do…'

'But…'

'…what you need to consider,' Eikichi continued, 'it's what you don't want to do.'

'What do you mean by that?' Bunta asked him, his headache threatening a mighty comeback.

'What I'm saying is that out of all the options you have, get rid of the ones you don't want to consider.'

'But…'

'Bunta,' Eikichi said, this time using the tone of voice which meant that he was running low on patience, 'don't you think it'll be easier choosing between two options rather than four or five?'

'Yeah, that makes sense,' Bunta replied.

'I'm glad you think so,' Eikichi said with more than a hint of sarcasm, 'so, if there's anything you don't want to do, delete it from your list of choices and move on to what you want to do. It's easier that way, isn't it?'

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed.

'Good,' Eikichi said, 'now, you better call that Masashi brat. He's called a couple of times already. Geez, between him and Itachi-san I felt like a freaking secretary today.'

'I'm sorry,' Bunta said.

'It really is beyond me how you didn't wake up with the phone ringing so many times.'

Bunta just laughed softly for, once again, his uncle seemed to be in an excellent mood. He was grateful to see his uncle in such high spirits and looking healthier than ever. Eikichi was still a lot weaker than before the angina but quitting smoking and regular walks were working wonders with the old man's health.

The young man felt a bit sorry for the Bellett so he made sure that the Isuzu was taken for a spin every few nights, as well as getting it regularly serviced like when its owner was healthy enough to take care of it properly.

'Bunta,' Eikichi said, 'aren't you going to call Masashi?'

'Ah, yeah,' Bunta mumbled. He then got up and grabbed the receiver of the black phone which hung rather precariously from one of the living room's walls. He dialled Masashi's number.

'Hello?' it was Masashi's mum.

'Suzuki-san, this is Fujiwara Bunta, is your son home?'

'No sweetie,' the lady replied, 'you should call Nitta-san's shop, Masashi went there this afternoon.'

'Ah, okay,' Bunta said, 'thanks a lot.'

'Oh, I nearly forgot!' Suzuki-san added just as Bunta went to hang up, 'he left a message for you: he said that if you called, he wanted me to tell you to go to the shop. He needs to show you something.'

'Ah, okay,' Bunta repeated feeling rather silly, 'again, thanks and have a nice evening Suzuki-san.'

'Same to you dear.'

With that, Bunta set the phone's receiver down and, turning round he saw that his uncle was staring at him with an amused expression on his aged face.

'What?' Bunta challenged him.

'Nothing,' Eikichi said putting both of hands up in the air, 'it's just that it's odd hearing you speak so formally.'

'Hey,' Bunta protested, 'I'm a very polite person, you know?'

'Of course you are,' Eikichi said, 'you're my nephew after all.'

Knowing better than to even think of starting a witty argument with his very clever uncle, Bunta just shook his head and walked out of the room to go back to his bedroom so that he could get his jacket. Only then he started thinking about what Suzuki-san said. So Masashi had something to show him...what could it be?

'I'm going out for a bit, is that okay?'

'Sure,' Eikichi said, 'but what about dinner?'

'I'll grab something somewhere, don't worry about me,' Bunta replied.

'Okay,' Eikichi said, 'ah, Bunta, I'm going to take care of the deliveries tonight so don't worry about when you'll come back. It's important that you get some time by yourself so you can think about things.'

Bunta nodded and was going to add a 'thanks' when he saw that his uncle turning his back to him so that he could go back to reading his newspaper. For the umpteenth time, he shook his head in disbelief and, grabbing the keys to his Toyota, he put his shoes on and walked out of the shop.

The night was a very chilly one but, for some reason, Bunta welcomed the cold air on his face. He really needed to do what his uncle had told him. Maybe after seeing Masashi he would go to Mt Akina so that he could sit in the car and think about how to solve the mess he was in while retaining some of his sanity.

He drove the short distance which separated his house from the repairs shop Nitta-san had run for the past couple of decades only to find an unusual amount of cars parked not only inside the shop but also on the pavement which ran along it. Bunta recognised every single one of those cars: they were from the members of the Akina Firebolts.

'What's going on in here?' he asked both to himself and to the steering wheel of his 2000GT.

Eager to find out, he parked his car and, climbing out of it, he found himself surrounded by at least four or five different people, two of which grabbed him by his arms.

'Hey! What…' he started protesting.

'We've got him,' Yamada, one of the members said triumphantly.

'Good,' Bunta saw Masashi said, 'get him in my car, now.'

'What the …' Bunta complained to no avail, he got literally dragged towards Masashi's red Nissan Fairlady Z and, what was worse, one of the guys had pried the keys of the 2000GT out of his hand. Bunta was about to start throwing a few punches here and there when Masashi, probably suspecting it, placed his hand on top of his left shoulder and said:

'Take it easy Bunta, we've got a surprise for you.'

'Masashi,' Bunta hissed, 'if you don't tell these monkeys to let go of me…'

'Hey!' Yamada complained, 'who are you calling monkey?'

'Guys, let him go,' Masashi said before Bunta could reply to Yamada's question. He then pushed Bunta towards the Nissan and said, 'come on Bunta, you're going to like this.'

'Masashi…'

'Humour me,' Masashi said, 'please?''

Bunta looked at his friend in the eye for a fraction of a second then, knowing that he was outnumbered in more than one way, he decided to be a good boy and climb into the Nissan as Masashi was not so subtly asking him to.

'Here,' Masashi said, giving Bunta the 2000GT's keys, 'Yamada's locked it so you don't need to worry about it.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'now, can you tell me where you're taking me?'

'Not yet,' Masashi replied, 'it'd would spoil the surprise but, don't worry, you'll find out soon enough.'

Five minutes later, they were all on the road which led to neighbouring prefecture of Nagano and that, Bunta knew very well, could only mean one thing: they were going to Usui.

'Why Usui?' he asked Masashi.

'You'll see,' Masashi replied.

'It's not about that kid, is it?' Bunta asked him, 'because if it was, you would have let me take my car there.'

'I said that you'll see,' Masashi insisted.

'You know,' Bunta said, 'if you weren't driving, I'd punch you.'

'Then I'm lucky that I'm driving,' Masashi replied laughing softly in such an annoying way that it made Bunta consider that maybe he would punch the Akina Firebolts' leader after all. At any rate and for some mysterious reason, Bunta was actually getting the sort of excitement he had almost forgot he could feel.

Was this because he was going to see street racing for the first time in a very long time?

He didn't have the time to come up with a good conclusion when he saw the first people standing here and there. They had been lucky this year since it had been unusually warm and the mountain pass, which was usually covered with snow at this time of the year, was drier and cleaner than ever.

Bunta hadn't been to Usui ever since that night when he'd raced there. He knew that the pass was still considered by many as one of the most difficult and challenging of the area and not many racers managed to clear the infamous C-121 corner in one single go.

Thinking about it made him wish Masashi had let him take his car with him.

The short caravan of cars formed by what was left of the Akina Firebolts, six members in total, got to the small parking area which was on top of the course and there, they saw a group of people talking to each other animatedly.

'Masashi!' a guy Bunta vaguely recognised said, 'I didn't you guys were coming tonight.'

'We have a special reason,' Masashi replied, pointing at Bunta with his head.

'Oh wow,' the guy said, 'it's you! How long it's been…two years? Three?'

Bunta felt more confused than ever and it probably showed on his face for, the stranger smiled at him and shaking his head in disappointment, he looked at Masashi and using a fake hurt tone of voice, he said:

'I don't think he remembers me.'

'Of course he does Mitsuri,' Masashi said then, giving Bunta a knowing look, he added, 'you do remember Mitsuri Shun, right?'

'Ah!' Bunta exclaimed, 'of course I do! We raced in Akina, after you raced Shinobu-san…'

Mitsuri placed a hand on his heart and, letting out a rather dramatic sigh, he said:

'I see that fame hasn't made you forget your first rivals…'

Bunta couldn't reply to that for, right at that moment, they heard a car coming up the road, the engine of which seemed to be making quite the effort just to keep the car running. Everyone seemed to go quiet, almost as if they all felt sorry for the poor thing.

A few instants later, they saw the two headlights of an ancient looking Honda S600. Its white bodywork, instead of gleaming and shiny as the one of the 2000GT, looked like it was in dire need of a re-paint and, as it got closer, Bunta saw that there were a few rusty parts in it too.

The car came to a halt right next to where Bunta and his friends were and, at long last, the owner of the car came out of it. It was just a kid who, by the looks of him, was barely old enough to have his driving license.

For the second time that evening, Bunta found himself wondering where he had seen that face before: he was sure that he had seen that kid before. His brain was about to give him the answer to his question when the kid saw him and, all of a sudden, gave a surprised yelp.

'YOU'RE HERE!' the kid shouted, literally bobbing up and down out of sheer excitement.

'Er…'

'I knew you'd come, I just knew it!'

'Wait…'

'Where's your car?' the kid asked looking around himself, 'I've got a race planned for tonight but I don't care. Now you're here I'll cancel everything…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted him, putting his hand on top of the kid's shoulder. Bunta couldn't believe that the kid had grown so little since the last time he'd seen him, 'I'm not here to race you…I…'

'You're not?' the kid asked him looking so disappointed that it made Bunta feel rather horrible, 'but I thought you…'

'What's your name kiddo?' Bunta asked him, 'you never told me that other time.'

'You remember me?' the kid said, 'you remember me!' he then exclaimed happily then, squaring himself in a silly and rather pointless attempt at trying to appear taller, he smiled and said, 'my name is Tsuchiya Keiichi and my dream is to race you Fujiwara-san and then, after I beat you, I'll become the greatest drifter of all time.'

Everyone was left speechless after such an extravagant way to introduce oneself. Bunta had to give it to this Tsuchiya kid: one problem he would never have would be lack of self-confidence. Just because of this, Bunta decided that he liked this kid.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'but, you said you had another race tonight, right?'

'Yes but don't worry about it, I'll…'

'Tsuchiya,' Bunta interrupted him, 'that's your surname, right?'

'Yep,' the kid replied, 'but you can call me Keiichi.'

'Okay,' Bunta conceded, 'Keiichi, you should never cancel a battle once you've agreed to race someone. It's bad manners, you know?'

'Yes, I do, but…'

'Let's do this,' Bunta said, 'if you win this race, I'll think about racing you, how's that?'

Masashi, along with the rest of the Akina Firebolts and everyone else present there gasped in unison. That was easily covered by Keiichi's shout of happiness. Bunta couldn't help but to smile at the kid. He sworn that he had never seen anyone quite as enthusiastic about racing than Keiichi Tsuchiya.

Less than a minute later, they heard yet another car driving up the road. This time, its engine sounded like a very powerful, finely tuned one and Bunta was surprised to see that Keiichi's rival was driving a burgundy Nissan Fairlady Z, a new and improved version of the S30 model Masashi called his pride and joy.

'Keiichi…'

'I'll be fine,' the kid interrupted. Observing him, Bunta saw that all the previous childish happiness was gone and, instead, Keiichi's face was the perfect picture of determination. The kid was so focused that he didn't even notice the weird stares he was getting from the people around him.

Bunta saw him walk up to the guy driving the Fairlady Z, someone who at the very least was ten years older than Keiichi and who seemed to be a very seasoned driver indeed. Seeing the scene reminded Bunta of his very first race when, for some reason, he found himself racing the number two of a highly popular team.

That had been only four years before but it definitely felt like a lot longer than that and he felt suddenly as ancient as a dinosaur from the Jurassic period. That thought made Bunta laugh softly.

'At last,' he then heard Masashi say, 'I thought you'd forgotten how to laugh.'

'I laugh,' Bunta defended himself.

'Not recently, you don't,' Masashi contradicted him then, not giving Bunta the time to reply, he indicated Keiichi with his head and said, 'did you mean what you said earlier about racing him if he won?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'but…I don't know if he will.'

'Why are you saying that?'

'Look at his car,' Bunta whispered looking at the S600, 'it's probably about ten years old and the poor thing seems like it's holding together with strings.'

'It probably is,' Masashi agreed, also using a low tone of voice, 'but since when are you against old cars? That 2000GT of yours is what, six years old?'

'Seven,' Bunta corrected, 'and my uncle's Bellett's older than that, but they're both kept in pristine condition. Look at that rust there.'

'Bunta,' Masashi admonished him, 'you've turned into a missy, did you know that?'

Bunta felt like had just been slapped. Replaying his own words in his head he felt a shockwave rattling his entire being. Masashi was right, he was slowly becoming just as the sort of racer he didn't want to be: caring more about the way the car looked than about the skills of the one who drove it.

'I see you're getting my point,' Masashi commented.

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'you know, maybe I shouldn't have made that promise. I think that that Keiichi kid is going to kick that guy's ass.'

Less than half an hour later and as Bunta had predicted, Keiichi drove his little Honda up to the parking area having just beaten the Nissan with a gap of over ten seconds. The poor Nissan's driver had not been able to take it and had just driven back home without even stopping to congratulate Keiichi.

'I won!' the kid exclaimed while running towards Bunta, 'I won!'

'I know you did,' Bunta said, offering him a fatherly smile.

'You're going to race me now, aren't you?'

Bunta let out a soft chuckle before scratching his left temple, the way he did every time he was either nervous or buying himself time so he could think things through. He had made a promise to think about it…

'Okay,' he finally gave in, 'we'll race but, instead of racing with my car, we'll race with my friend's. He drives a Capella which will make things fairer for me.'

'For you?' an incredulous Masashi couldn't help but to ask.

'Yes,' Bunta explained, 'my 2000GT is too powerful for a proper downhill battle. After all, you don't win those with power, do you Keiichi?'

'Nope,' Keiichi replied shaking his head vigorously, 'so, when are we racing?'

'Give me a few weeks,' Bunta replied, 'my friend's away for his honeymoon and I'll need time to prepare the car for the race. Is that okay with you?'

'Sure,' Keiichi replied, looking so happy that he was probably ready to agree to anything Bunta imposed as long as he got to race against his idol.

'Good,' Bunta said, 'how am I to find you to let you know the date?'

'Here,' Keiichi said, 'I've been carrying this with me every night…just in case,' Bunta saw that he was being given a piece of paper and, taking it, he saw the kid's name and telephone number typed out in the messy handwriting typical of high school boys. Bunta placed it inside the front pocket of his trousers and, offering Keiichi a smile, he said:

'Well Tsuchiya, we've got an agreement.'

'Fujiwara-san, I told you to call me Keiichi,' the kid protested.

'No,' Bunta said, 'you're a rival now. I'll call you Keiichi again when I beat you.'

'Okay,' Keiichi said, 'when I'll beat you, I'll call you Bunta.'

Bunta laughed at that and, shaking his head, he realised that for some mysterious reason, the kid had just provided him with the peace of mind he needed to sort out quite a few of this thoughts. Like Eikichi said, probably having to choose what he wanted to do was too difficult but, he was now absolutely certain of what he didn't want to do.

For one, he didn't want to be ordered around anymore and, for the first time in a while, he realised that that was precisely all he'd been doing in the previous two years.

Armed with this knowledge, made it possible for Bunta to get all the determination he needed to drive to the Itachi training track on a sunny Monday morning so that he could tell Itachi-san that, as much as he was grateful for all the old man had done for him in those two years, he now wanted to try and fly solo.

He knew that if Itachi-san wasn't going to take things well, Midori was bound to take them even worse but it was okay, he was prepared for that and felt resolute and strong enough to oppose whatever his girlfriend had to say.

And if things got too out of hand, he could always do what he'd been thinking of doing for quite a while: break up with her and do the two of them a huge favour.

'Bunta,' he heard Midori's voice the instant he climbed out of his car, 'I'm happy you're here earlier than usual.'

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'listen…'

'…because I need to tell you something,' she continued.

'What a coinci…'

'I'm pregnant,' Midori announced.

_To be continued…_


	53. Chapter Fifty Two

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty Two_

Bunta felt as though as he'd been brutally punched onto his stomach and, just as if he had been hit for real, he took a couple of steps backwards until his lower back collided with the side of his 2000GT. Then, leaning against it, he gave himself a few moments just to see if, despite the tremendous shock just received, he was still able to breathe.

'Er…' he hesitated then, coughed once and, clearing his throat a couple of times, started again, 'are you sure?'

'Of course I am,' Midori said. The girl was smiling at him as though as she found it cute to observe her boyfriend's panicked reaction.

'Okay,' Bunta muttered. He then took another couple of gulps of air while desperately trying to get his brain into the right gear. He had never needed to think as fast as he did now, unfortunately, his mind was completely blank.

'What are we going to do?' he asked, hoping his voice didn't sound anywhere near as shaken as he felt.

'Well, we'll get married,' Midori replied with nonchalance, 'after all, that's what we were going to do anyway, weren't we?'

'Er…'

'Naturally,' Midori continued, 'we cannot tell my family about this, you know, if my father knew…well…he wouldn't be very impressed that we've…you know…'

'Y-yeah, no,' Bunta stuttered, 'definitely not a good idea.'

'Good,' Midori said, 'now, don't worry about anything, I'll tell my dad that you've just proposed to me and that we want to get married as soon as possible. If I hurry up, I can have things ready in about two or three weeks and…'

'W-wait,' Bunta interrupted her, 'three weeks?' he then asked with an unusually high pitched voice.

'Of course silly,' Midori said, still appearing to be having the time of her life, 'my tummy isn't going to be flat forever now, you know?'

'No, of course not,' Bunta agreed. Letting out a very long sigh of resignation, he decided to surrender to the inevitable. After all, is not like if he had any other realistic choice: now that he had got her pregnant, he would have to marry Midori and take responsibility for what he'd done.

'Bunta,' Midori said, this time looking at him with a serious expression, 'you're okay with this, aren't you?'

For one crazy moment, he considered shouting at her that he was everything but okay with this whole thing, that he had never felt anymore trapped in his whole life and that, right at that instant, he felt like running away to the other side of the planet but, instead of saying that, he just nodded.

'Yeah, it's okay.'

'Good,' Midori sentenced, 'now, it's a pity Takashi isn't here but we can still go and share the news with my father.'

Itachi-san's reaction wasn't as flamboyant as Bunta expected from the man. If anything, he seemed a little bit worried about something Bunta could not quite define. In any case, Midori managed to sell him the idea so well that, as usual, he ended up agreeing with everything his daughter said.

'But honey,' he said to Midori, 'you do know that because of Bunta's professional commitments, he won't be able to take you on your honeymoon just now.'

'Oh, it's okay,' Midori said brushing it off, 'it's not that important, besides, we'll get to travel as much as we want when he'll become an international racer, right?'

'Of course,' Itachi-san replied looking at his daughter approvingly, 'as usual my dear, you're so sensible.'

'I got it all from you,' Midori said cupping her father's face with her hand, making him smile even more. Witnessing this made Bunta feel rather odd, as though as he was some sort of third wheel and, for this reason, he felt grateful when Itachi-san decided to move on to business.

'Okay Bunta,' he said, 'now that we've settled this. Midori will stay here to take care of a few things while us two go to Yokosuka.'

'Yokosuka?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Itachi-san said, 'that's where the Publication Division 3 have their Oppama factory. Now, we better leave now or we won't make it on time.'

'S-sure,' Bunta said then, after Midori had kissed him on his cheek, wishing him good luck for his first day in his new job, he followed his future father-in-law all the way to his Mercedes. Bunta had never really liked that make and he stared at his own Toyota with a longing look.

'Don't worry,' Itachi-san said, 'you'll be doing lots of driving very soon.'

Bunta could only bring himself to nod while he climbed into the German car. In his brain, he started going through what had happened in the past hour or so and as if it had just hit him, he realised that he had forgotten something of extreme importance: Midori was pregnant and he, Bunta, was going to become a father.

A father.

He tightened his fists and closed his eyes, clenching his jaw as tightly as possible since he didn't really trust himself to open his mouth. He knew that if he did, he would probably scream in fear for he had never been any more scared in his whole life.

He wasn't ready for this. He was definitely not ready for parenthood…

'Hey Bunta,' he heard Itachi-san's voice saying from what felt a thousand kilometres away, 'don't be afraid, I'm not such a bad driver, am I?'

'Eh?'

'Although, if you like, you can drive yourself.'

'No, no,' Bunta managed to say, 'it's okay. I'll be fine,' he added, doing his best to convince himself.

Itachi-san just laughed a little before he turned on the Mercedes' powerful engine. Bunta really was grateful that the old man was driving for, right at that instant, he didn't even feel capable of driving a shopping trolley, let alone such a horribly expensive car.

An hour and a half later, they crossed the border between the Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures and sometime later they arrived to the city of Yokosuka where Nissan had the facilities where it took care of the preparation of the cars for the privateer racing teams, otherwise known as the Publication Division 3.

Despite the mess which reigned in his head, Bunta could not help but to feel in awe seeing the modern-looking installations where the PD3 had their main building and test-track. He was beginning to think about the fact that he would soon drive on that track when he saw a midnight blue Nissan Skyline GT-R with a Tochigi number plate.

'No way…'

'What's wrong?' Itachi-san asked him.

'N-nothing,' Bunta replied. He waited for his future in-law to park the car only to jump out of it the second it was stationary. He ignored the way Itachi-san laughed at him and even left the old man behind while he ran past the Nissan towards main entrance.

Just as he had feared, he saw one of his worst enemies standing in the reception area, with some old man next to him who was busy chatting with a middle-aged guy dressed in a very smart, western style suit. Kogashiwa's reaction seeing Bunta there was almost funny.

He first did a double-take, then his eyes went as wide as they could and then, he frowned and looked at Bunta as though as he couldn't believe his own eyes.

'What in the heck are you doing in here?' Kogashiwa asked him, obviously forgetting where he was and who he was with.

'I could ask you the same, don't you think?' Bunta replied.

'Er…' Kogashiwa hesitated then, looking at the two older men present there, offered them a quick bow and, seizing Bunta's arm, he started dragging him out of the building, making it past Itachi-san who stopped there and tried asking Bunta what was happening. Kogashiwa ignored him too.

'What do you think you're doing?' Bunta protested while trying to free his arm from Kogashiwa's grasp. The guy didn't even bother to reply, instead, he just forced Bunta to walk with him all the way across the car park, right to the very edge of the test-track. Only then he let go of Bunta's arm.

'Just tell me something,' Kogashiwa started, 'in which category have you decided to race?'

'I…'

'And which car are you going to drive?'

'Kog…'

'Don't tell me that you're finally seeing reason and that…'

'Kogashiwa,' Bunta interrupted him, 'listen, I'm not going to take part in any official competition this year.'

'You're not?' Kogashiwa asked, 'what do you mean, you're not…'

'I'm not going to be racing, at least not officially,' Bunta replied.

'But…'

'Listen,' Bunta said, 'I'm not entirely sure about what they want me to do in here. All I know is that I'm going to be part of their research team, as a driver.'

'Research team?' Kogashiwa asked, his face starting to show a large dose of incredulity.

'Yes.' If only he could explain to Kogashiwa what he'd been doing for Toyota, things would have probably been a lot easier, alas, what he had done with Katayama was so secret that not even his closest friends knew about it.

'So,' Kogashiwa said, 'let me get this straight: you'll work here as a test driver?'

Putting it that way kind of hurt his racer's pride but Bunta guessed that it possibly was the only way to explain what he would be doing in PD3. For this reason, he forced himself to nod, while readying himself for what he knew was about to come his way.

'Oh crap,' Kogashiwa muttered before he burst out laughing, 'this is too good!'

'Koga…'

'After all you said,' Kogashiwa continued, 'after all the times you've rejected my offers and you end up having to work for me.'

'What?' Bunta exclaimed, 'I am NOT going to be working for you!'

'Yes you will be,' Kogashiwa contradicted him, 'who do you think you'll be preparing the car for?'

Bunta refused to reply to that question, despite the fact that he more than suspected the answer. Kogashiwa didn't waste time confirming what he feared the most and with a nasty smirk curving his lips, the Tochigi guy said:

'I was wondering the reason why my team manager's had decided to go to the PD3 for the preparation of my car, instead of letting me do the testing.'

'Kogashiwa…'

'I did tell you, didn't I?' Kogashiwa asked him, 'didn't I say that you'd regret not to follow me into rallying?'

'Kogashiwa…'

'And now, what's become of you?' Kogashiwa insisted, making Bunta think that the guy was actually enjoying himself causing as much damage to Bunta's ego as he humanly could. In a morning full of extreme emotions, Bunta was now feeling a brand new one: he was furious.

Knowing that he would end up hitting Kogashiwa if he stayed there for another second, Bunta decided to be the bigger man and, turning round, he started walking away from his long-time rival.

'Bunta, wait!' Kogashiwa exclaimed, Bunta didn't stop walking, 'listen, you still have a chance…'

This time Bunta did stop but didn't turn round. Instead, he waited for Kogashiwa to carry on talking.

'…I could still make it happen for you to start rallying. Please, do yourself a favour and listen to me.'

Bunta knew that Kogashiwa was right. He knew that he wasn't going to be happy from now on. He had never felt like doing what he was supposed to do any less than he did right at that moment but, alas, he also knew that with Midori being pregnant, he didn't have any other choice. For this reason, and despite the fact that he really wanted to let Kogashiwa have it his way, he took a deep breath and, without bothering to turn round to face his rival, he said:

'Kogashiwa, thanks for the offer, but I really can't accept it.'

With that, he re-started walking back towards the building while doing his best to ignore Kogashiwa's shouting voice asking him to reconsider, then uttering a whole string of insults. Bunta knew that he deserved them for, in fact, he felt like the worst kind of scum.

It was with this low spirits that Bunta let some guy whose name he didn't even bother to register, show him around the facilities where he would work for the next year or so. The whole place didn't look all that much different from the laboratories where Toyota prepared their own racing engines so Bunta didn't pay much attention to what the man said.

When after an eternally long day Bunta finally parked his 2000GT outside Eikichi's tofu shop, he turned off the engine, placed both of his hands onto the steering wheel and rested his head against his arms. For one long moment, he considered letting himself cry…

'Don't be stupid,' he admonished himself.

He then slapped himself and, trying to build up some sort of determination, he stepped out of the car and, after locking it, he walked into the shop, finding his uncle there, taking a break while reading some glossy but old looking magazine.

'Welcome back,' Eikichi said, glancing quickly at his nephew, only to return his gaze back at the magazine.

'What are you reading?' Bunta asked, forgetting for an instant about the mess his life had suddenly become.

'No idea,' Eikichi replied, 'it's something I found in one of the living room's drawers. I think it was left here by Fuka-chan when she and that Yuuichi brat stayed here.'

Bunta let out a soft chuckle.

'Eikichi,' he said, 'that brat is now her husband. And, please don't tell me that magazine's been there for the past three years.'

'Well,' Eikichi said, 'it's not like we do spring cleaning all that often, is it?'

'No, that's right,' Bunta replied, 'but, in any case, why are you reading it? It's three years old, just chuck it in the bin.'

'Oh,' Eikichi said, 'I was going to do that but, I started reading it and, it's amazing the stuff women read. No wonder they're all so freaking smart when it comes to certain things.'

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed, 'they're a tad too smart, I think.'

'What do you mean?' Eikichi asked then, without giving his nephew time to reply, he added, 'don't tell me, Midori-chan's done something weird again.'

Bunta looked at his uncle for a few instants, pondering whether it was too soon or too risky to let his uncle know about his nephew's upcoming parenthood, ultimately deciding that the sooner the old man he knew, the better, after all, Eikichi's heart would certainly not welcome any nasty surprises.

'Eikichi,' he stared, 'there's something I need to tell you…'

It was almost a relief for Bunta to see that his uncle didn't take the news all that much better than he himself had done in the morning, in fact, Eikichi looked quite worried, a lot more so than Bunta was actually expecting.

'You're not ready for this, are you?' he asked, with his usual sharpness.

'No,' Bunta confessed.

'And you don't seem to be over-enthusiastic about marrying her either,' Eikichi added.

This time Bunta only shook his head. His uncle stared at him for a long time then, setting aside the magazine, he got up from the chair he'd been using up to then and started pacing up and down the shop's working area.

'Eikichi…'

'Look,' his uncle interrupted him, stopping so that he could look at his nephew, 'I'm not going to say you don't have to shoulder your share of the responsibility. In fact, I would beat the crap out of you if you didn't but, I hope you're aware that the kind of marriage you're going to have is not exactly going to be a joyful one.'

'I know,' Bunta said using a very bitter tone of voice, 'but there isn't anything else I can do, is there?'

'No, there isn't,' Eikichi confirmed. Then, as an afterthought, he added, 'what about your career? Are you going to let Itachi-san manage it as he pleases?'

'Of course not!' Bunta exclaimed, 'this whole PD3 thing is temporary. I don't intend on having him leading me his way for the rest of my life!'

'You know,' Eikichi said, 'I feel guilty for having introduced you to him.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'Because I thought that I was doing you a favour but, it seems like it was us doing a favour to Itachi-san,' Eikichi replied, 'he was right, you know…and he even told me.'

'He did?'

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'right that day when we went to his track. Now I understand what he meant, I too still have loads to learn.'

Bunta was shocked to see that, for the first time in a very long while, his uncle seemed a lot less than his usual one hundred percent confident self. He would have found it hilarious and would have tried to make fun of him if the situation wasn't so freaking serious.

'Oh well,' Eikichi continued, 'what it's done, it's done. All we can do now is to deal with the consequences.'

'What are you talking about?' Bunta asked him.

'Well,' Eikichi replied, 'I'm hardly going to leave you alone in such a delicate moment in your life, am I?'

'But…'

'To begin with,' he said, 'you no longer need to take care of the shop. I'll go back to doing everything myself, just as it used to be before you showed up. You, on the other hand, need to concentrate on making sure that Itachi-san doesn't mess around with your career more than he's already done and…'

'Whoa! Stop right there,' Bunta said, putting his hands in front of him, 'what are you saying? You can't take care of the shop by yourself, you…'

'I'm not that sick anymore,' he said, 'besides, you aren't even going to be here, are you?'

'What do you…'

'You and Midori are going to be living somewhere together after you get married, right?'

Bunta felt rather idiotic for having overlooked something as important as that. What was happening to him? It wasn't normal for him to make so many mistakes.

'So,' Eikichi carried on, 'since you aren't going to be here, I'll go back to taking care of everything while you take care of your career, your wife and your kid.'

'Please don't say it out loud,' Bunta begged him.

'What?' Eikichi asked, 'your career, your wife or your kid?'

'The last one,' Bunta replied, 'I…I don't…I'm…'

'Get used to it quickly,' Eikichi advised him, 'in less than nine months, you'll be a father, the sooner you accept it, the better.'

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed, 'I just…'

'…need some time, I know,' Eikichi said, 'now go to bed and get some rest, I'm going to start frying the tofu for the shop. Maybe you can do the deliveries tonight so you can tell Ryo-san yourself that you won't be doing them ever again.'

Bunta climbed the stairs and dropped himself onto his bed. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling in the darkness of his bedroom. He simply could not believe what was happening to him. His uncle was right though, he had to get used to the fact that his life as he knew it was over.

He closed his eyes in a vain attempt to fall asleep and, as he did so, he felt a single tear rolling down his cheek. Bunta didn't do anything to stop it and, for the first time ever since his parents' death, he cried himself to sleep.

The following day started with very dark skies which threatened a very heavy thunderstorm. Something quite normal given as it was the middle of February. Even so, Bunta thought that even the weather was somehow agreeing with his negative mood.

'Good morning,' Eikichi said, 'you're alright?'

'Yeah,' Bunta lied. In fact, what little he had managed to sleep, he had had all sorts of nightmares. One including a gigantic baby chasing him all the way down Akina that ended with him crashing his 2000GT at one of the hairpins.

'Where are you going?' Eikichi asked, seeing his nephew grabbing one of his home-made onigiri, with the obvious intention of eating it on his way out.

'I'm going to go and speak to Katayama-san,' Bunta replied, 'I've got to tell him that I can no longer stick to my end of our deal.'

'I see,' Eikichi said, 'well, good luck with that.'

'Yeah, I'm going to need it,' Bunta replied darkly. With that, he climbed into his car and drove all the way to the place which had kind of become some sort of playground. He found Katayama crouching next to one of their latest prototypes but noticing Bunta, the engineer got up and said:

'Hello there, I don't recall having arranged a meeting with you today.'

'That's because you haven't,' Bunta replied. Instinctively, he stuffed his hands down the front pockets of his dark trousers and started looking down at the floor between his feet. In all honesty, he didn't even know how to begin what he knew would be a very complicated conversation.

'Is it that bad?' Katayama asked him. His face starting to look rather worried.

Taking a deep breath, Bunta started explaining to him everything that had happened and about the fact that he no longer could offer his 'services' to Toyota.

'I see,' Katayama said, 'well…I understand why you're leaving us…'

'Don't worry, I'll pay for whatever…'

Katayama shook his head and placed a hand on top of Bunta's shoulder.

'Listen,' he said, 'at first, what we did here was purely for business reasons but, you know that all the training we've given you, all the feedback we've been getting from you, in short, all the time we've spent together, well, Yoshida-san and I kind of thought of you as a friend.'

'Ah…'

'As such,' Katayama continued, 'I understand that you've been put in a very nasty position and being the fair person you are, it is impossible to continue with our deal. That said, I really would like you to count on me for whatever you need. Whether it's now or in the future, okay?'

'S-sure,' Bunta said.

'And I think I speak also on Yoshida's behalf when I say that you'll always be welcome, for as long as we both have anything to do with Toyota.'

'I get it,' Bunta assured him. He then bowed as deeply as he could and, getting up slowly, he felt a knot tying his throat when he said, 'Katayama-san, thank you for everything and, if you hear from Yoshida-san, please tell him I'm sorry I couldn't thank him in person.'

'I'll let him know,' the engineer said. 'Bunta, working with you has been nothing but a pleasure. I certainly hope we'll see each other again.'

Bunta thought that he would have liked nothing more than that and, with a heavy heart, he proceeded to say goodbye to everyone from the Toyota research department. Excluding the day when his parents died, he had never felt any worse in his twenty two years of existence.

_To be continued…_


	54. Chapter Fifty Three

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty Three_

If it wasn't because Yuuichi had had to co-sign the marriage certificate, he would have never believed his best friend when he had told him that he too was getting married and now, while he followed the huge limousine which was taking Bunta and Midori to the most expensive hotel in Yokohama, he still had trouble believing everything that had happened during his absence.

Not only marriage-allergic Bunta had tied the knot but was about to become a father too. Yuuichi knew that he wasn't allowed to share the news with anyone but he still found it perversely funny to think of his best friend dealing with a newborn baby.

He had to keep himself from laughing out loud while he followed the just married couple, the bride's parents and Bunta's uncle all the way to the enormous reception hall Midori had booked for her wedding. There, Yuuichi spotted his wife and went to join her as soon as he could.

'How did it go?' Fuka asked him.

'I'm most impressed,' Yuuichi replied, his voice just above a whisper, 'I thought he would run away half way through the ceremony,' he added while still trying to repress his mirth.

'Darling, it's not funny,' Fuka admonished him, 'you know the reason they're getting married, don't you?'

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, this time looking around himself to check if anyone was within hearing distance. There was no one and, lowering his tone of voice even more, he said, 'Fuka, please…'

'I know, I know,' she replied, 'we're not supposed to know either.'

'That's right,' Yuuichi agreed, 'now, let's go and help Bunta…the poor thing needs it.'

To be perfectly honest, Yuuichi was very worried about his best friend. That same morning when he'd gone to pick up both his best friend and his uncle at the tofu shop, Bunta's usually healthy complexion was a delicate shade of green and he looked more like a convict on his way to death row than the happy groom he was supposed to be.

He knew that comparisons were never a good idea but, with his own wedding still so fresh in his memory, Yuuichi could not help but to notice just how different the two events were. His and Fuka's wedding was a small affair, done in a small shrine and celebrated at the local inn with just a few close friends and the families.

Here, Midori had organised what probably was one of the biggest social meets of the year. Yuuich knew that the Itachi were one of the richest families in Yokohama and that they had numerous high-class connections, which explained the fact that, asides the very few guests from the groom's side, Yuuichi didn't know anyone else.

The poor Bunta had never looked any more out of place and, for the first time since he'd known him, Yuuichi felt a rush of pity for the guy. He was so busy thinking about all that that he didn't even see Bunta marching towards him.

'Let's go,' he said grabbing him by the sleeve.

'W-where?' Yuuichi asked, getting ready to follow him nevertheless.

'Anywhere,' Bunta replied, 'Fuka-chan, you don't mind if I borrow your husband for a bit, do you?'

'No,' Fuka replied smiling kindly, 'go ahead.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said and, with that, he just rushed across the room, looking around himself nervously, probably checking whether Midori spotted him running away. Fortunately, the girl seemed to be busy talking with one of the many guests.

'Safe,' Bunta said the second the two of them finally made it to the wide terrace where the hotel had its swimming pool. Yuuichi was about to open his mouth to speak when Bunta said, 'so, have you thought about what I asked you?'

'Eh?'

'The car,' Bunta explained, 'is it okay if I borrow your car? With all that's been going on I won't have time to…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'don't tell me you're still going to race that Keiichiro what's-his-name guy?'

'His name is Tsuchiya Keiichi,' Bunta supplied, 'and yes, I have every intention of racing him.'

'But you're married now and…'

'Don't remind me,' Bunta commanded, 'now, are you going to lend me your car or not? Because if you don't I'll have to find another car. I don't know, I may even borrow the Bellett.'

'Yeah, right,' a sceptical Yuuichi said, 'as if your uncle would ever let you race with his baby.'

'Don't say baby,' Bunta nearly shrieked.

'Bunta…'

'Denial is a very powerful coping mechanism, okay?' Bunta said, 'it's all I've got right now so please, do me a favour don't mention the M or the B words till I say it's okay for you to do so, understood?'

'S-sure,' Yuuichi said.

'And, if you make me ask for your car again I'll just go and steal it…'

'No, no,' Yuuichi hurried to say, 'you know you can use it. If there's someone who I can trust when it comes to cars, that's you. But you're going to need to change the tyres, I haven't replaced the winter ones yet.'

'Don't worry,' Bunta assured him, 'I was planning on giving it a bit of an overhaul but I simply don't have enough time to do that. I'll just take it for a spin tomorrow night and see what needs to be done.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi said. Then, speaking as cautiously as he could, he added, 'Bunta, there's something I need to ask you though…'

'What is it?'

'I know you're not ready for…all of this…,' Yuuichi said, bracing himself for the worst, 'but, you're still going to do your best to, you know…make things work.'

Bunta stared at his best friend for a short while with a pained expression on his face before giving him what wanted to be a reassuring nod.

'Then I won't worry about it anymore,' Yuuichi concluded. 'Now, what's the strategy for the race?'

'Strategy?' Bunta asked him, 'none…just try and be faster than the opponent.'

A fortnight after the wedding, Bunta drove his 2000GT from his new home in Yokohama all the way to the border between Nagano and Gunma where the Usui pass was. He felt grateful that his new job with Nissan's PD3 was keeping him busy enough so that sleeping was pretty much all he did in the ridiculously big apartment Itachi-san had bought them as a wedding gift.

He had to give it to Midori though: Yokohama was a lot closer to the PD3 facilities than Shibukawa and, thanks to that, he didn't have to get up horribly early in the morning to go to work. Despite that, he still missed the little town where he'd lived in the past four years.

Not only that but he also missed the tofu shop and, more than anything else, he missed living with that crazy old man that was Eikichi Fujiwara. He wondered how his uncle was keeping up and, more than once, he'd had to repress the urge to go and call him so that he could check on him.

'He'll be okay,' Bunta mumbled to himself.

Eikichi had been alone for most of his life and excelled at the art of taking care of himself so, realistically speaking, Bunta didn't have any good reason to believe that his uncle would suffer without him being there. In all honesty, Bunta knew that it was more the other way round: it was him who was suffering. A lot.

Being fair and up until then, Midori had been nothing but a perfect wife who never complained about her husband's long hours at work or the fact that since their wedding they had yet to spend more than an hour on their own in which Bunta wasn't sleeping.

She also did her best to appear always at her best and Bunta thanked her for that. He was terrified that once they would be married she would start wearing jerseys and would stop taking care of her appearance. Fortunately, marriage had had the contrary effect: Midori was even more beautiful than ever.

Fuka had the theory that it was also the fact that she was pregnant. Apparently, or so Fuka said, pregnant women were supposed to look prettier because the hormones made their skin glow with a different light.

Whatever the reason, Bunta felt lucky that in spite of everything, he still found his wife to be an immensely attractive woman who knew how to make her husband happy in the bedroom. If anything, that was an aspect of their relationship Bunta would never have to worry about.

His main source of concern, what was robbing him of his peace of mind, was the tiny life which he knew was growing inside Midori's still perfectly flat tummy. He had never felt anymore scared in his life and he knew that in nine months time, he would still be far from being ready.

Sure, he had considered having kids at some point in his life but, at twenty two years old, he was still a big kid himself and because of this he simply didn't see him capable of being a decent father. Maybe in ten years time, when he'd be an accomplished racer, but not now. Definitely not now.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any other acceptable choice: he had messed up badly and he had to deal with the consequences of his massive miscalculation the best way he could. He just hope his nerves would be able to cope with what was to come…

At long last he made it to the top of the Usui pass where he could see four other cars parked: Masashi's Nissan Fairlady Z, Tsuchiya's Honda S600, Yuuichi's Mazda Capella and, for some reason, Mitsuri's Subaru Leone. No one else was there, not even the usual people who came to assist to the races as public.

In fact, Tsuchiya had organised the whole affair in secret and had insisted that he didn't want anyone watching them race. He had told him that he was nervous enough as it was just by knowing that he'd be racing his idol Bunta Fujiwara.

'Idol…' Bunta muttered climbing out of the car, 'as if.'

'Hey,' Keiichi said, 'you're late!'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'sorry.'

'It's okay,' Tsuchiya said, 'I'm just happy you're here, Fujiwara-san.'

Bunta just offered the younger guy one of his enigmatic smiles, the ones which gave Yuuichi goose bumps for one never knew what the guy was thinking when he smiled like that. At any rate, it didn't last for too long for Bunta looked at Mitsuri and said:

'I take you're here to act as referee?'

'That's correct,' Mitsuri replied, 'if that's okay with you, of course?'

'No problem,' Bunta said, 'let's get things started.'

Soon Bunta was sitting in Yuuichi's Capella, with the car's owner staring at him through the open window. Bunta took the keys to the 2000GT and placed them in Yuuichi's hand while saying:

'If I crash your car, you've got my permission to go and crash mine, okay?'

Yuuichi shook his head and said:

'I won't need to do that. I'm sure you're going to win.'

Bunta just nodded once and that made Yuuichi feel uneasy. He knew that Bunta had been through a lot recently and that he was a little out of practice when it came to street racing. He also knew that after having raced legally and in a semi-professional league, this little race probably wasn't enough to get him nervous.

But Yuuichi knew that Bunta wasn't nervous. There was some other unidentified emotion displayed on his best friend's face. Something powerful enough to make Bunta forget that he was supposed to be an arrogant brat, always ready to brag about his god-sent driving skills.

'I'll see you after you beat him,' Yuuichi tried again.

'Yeah,' was all Bunta said.

With that, the young man rolled up the window and Yuuichi observed him while he turned on the engine and started making the car move towards the starting point of the race: somewhere past the little barrier which was used to close the pass during the snow storms.

'How is he doing?' Masashi asked Yuuichi once he joined the two older racers by their cars.

'I'm not sure,' Yuuichi replied.

'Is he okay?' Mitsuri asked them and that made both Yuuichi and Masashi exchanged a quick, worried glance, as though as they were trying to decide who was going to reply to the question. Unable to reach an agreement, both men spoke at the same time when they said:

'He's fine.'

Mitsuri frowned slightly and would have probably voiced his perplexity if it wasn't because, right at that instant, they heard both cars taking off, with the dirty white Honda tailing the dark blue Mazda. Having Bunta leading, instead of making him feel better, made Yuuichi become even more worried.

He knew very well that in this particular pass there weren't many places where one could overtake the opponent but he also had learned from Mitsuri that Tsuchiya was a local here who seemed to know the pass as well as Bunta knew Akina. Because of this it was more than likely that he knew where and how to attack with pinpoint precision.

'He's fine,' he heard Masashi say.

'I hope so,' Yuuichi said.

'Hey,' Mitsuri exclaimed, 'why the long faces? Fujiwara's nearly a professional. He's got a lot more experience than Tsuchiya who, let's not forget, is just barely old enough to have his license. I know that he's racing in his turf but, come on, I've raced against Fujiwara and he beat me in my own home course, remember?'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'it's just that…'

'What?'

'Nothing,' Masashi intervened glaring at Yuuichi, 'it's nothing. We're just worried because Bunta hasn't been street racing for a while and, you know…'

'Ah, I see,' Mitsuri said, 'you shouldn't worry though: like I said, I'm sure Fujiwara will pull one of his usual stunts and will make Tsuchiya regret that he's challenged Fujiwara so stupidly early. If you ask me, the kid's good but, not _that_ good.'

Meanwhile, Bunta was just about managing to keep the Capella in the line he wanted. He was pushing the poor Mazda well beyond its limits and Bunta knew that unless he did something soon, Tsuchiya would probably get close enough to attempt an attack.

Twice he'd looked at the rear view mirror and twice he'd seen the crazy way in which Tsuchiya got his little Honda to clear the corners. The kid was even crazier than he was and seemed to like getting as close to the guardrails as humanly possible if that made the turn shorter.

Bunta did his best to concentrate, applying every bit of his racing experience to his driving. He knew that Yuuichi's Capella wasn't the kind of car he was used to but, again, he found its compactness an asset, rather than a handicap.

In a steep and twisted road such as this one, it was easier to control a car like the Mazda Capella rather than his 2000GT which, after all, was a beast built for speed. Also, the fact that the Capella was a lot less powerful gave Bunta an extra incentive to drive it even better so that he would not slow down unless it was strictly necessary.

A couple of turns before the infamous, three-lane C121, Bunta started driving by grip, knowing that it was important that he entered the wide corner in complete control of his vehicle, also because he suspected that Tsuchiya would use that specific corner to issue his first attack.

Taking a deep breath, he shifted gears, adjusted his pedal work and readied himself to let the car slide on its tyres when he saw that the S600 veered towards the outside of the corner, nearly kissing the heavy looking guardrail in the process.

Not having enough time to worry about Tsuchiya, Bunta decided to try and close as much gap as possible while he finally entered the corner. Unfortunately, not even his most advanced skills could prevent what happened next:

Tsuchiya, instead of clearing the corner using the outside as Bunta had originally thought, used his car's agility to get it across the width of the road, moving towards the inner-most lane, almost crashing sideways against the rocky wall. He then straightened the S600 by sheer inertia and, using that single lane, he drifted all the way to the end of the turn.

Bunta could only watch while Tsuchiya literally brushed past him, forcing him to open up his line to prevent a more than certain collision.

Knowing that he still had a chance, Bunta floored the throttle and hoped that the Capella's more powerful engine would take care of the rest. Alas, it seemed like the S600 still had some power left and that somehow allowed Tsuchiya to keep the lead all the way to the following corner.

'Shit,' Bunta muttered. This had to be the first time in his life that someone had managed to overtake him in the middle of a race in which with both cars were still functional and running. Sure, this had happened a few times in the Fuji Series but, never before in his street racing days.

Taking a couple of steadying breaths, he decided to change strategy: from then on and until the end of the race he would not cease to attack Tsuchiya. Home course or not, there was no way he could let that kid beat him.

Staying true to his word, he stuck the Capella's front bumper to the rear of the S600 and, in the very next corner, he tried to overtake Tsuchiya who then proceeded to close the gap with such an expertise that even Bunta was left in awe.

Not giving up, Bunta tried again and again and again, forcing Tsuchiya to use every single one of his tricks to make sure that the Capella stayed safely behind his Honda. Then, with just a handful of corners till the end of the course, Bunta decided to get a whole lot more aggressive:

Right before the entry point of a low speed lefthander, Bunta pushed the Honda by brushing its rear bumper. That made the S600 become slightly less stable and, while Tsuchiya was busy trying to straighten up his racing line, Bunta forced the Capella in the inside of the corner.

He had almost made it past the Honda when Tsuchiya, probably using the sudden jolt, made his car get across the road, the same way he'd done in the C121 corner, thus forcing Bunta to slam on the brake pedal to avoid a crash.

'Not good…' he mumbled.

Waiting for the next corner, he tried something else; this time he decided to copy Tsuchiya and got his car across the corner, placing his car in a perfect parallel line with the S600 only that, at the exit of the corner, Bunta forced Keiichi towards the outside, again hoping that the Capella's more powerful engine would give him the advantage he needed.

It did and Keiichi was forced to let Bunta pass while he slowed down so that he would not end the race stuck on the guardrail. That said, Bunta knew better than to shout out his happiness and, instead, did his best to remain focused throughout the last three corners before the point where they would end the race.

Both cars cleared first a right-hander, then a left-hander and Bunta could already see the finish line when, Keiichi, in what probably was an attack driven mostly by desperation, pushed Bunta's Capella with his Honda's front bumper. That made Bunta lose control of his car for just a fraction of a second but that was all Keiichi needed:

Sending the S600 all the way to the inner edge of the very last corner of the race, Tsuchiya made all four tyres slide across it, using only goodness knew what to make the car go at an insanely fast speed. Bunta did his best to stay ahead but both cars exited the corner at the same exact level.

That kid was so stubborn! Bunta thought to himself while he felt the Capella's accelerator pedal touch the car's floor. He knew that the poor engine was already giving him all it had but, somehow, he still hoped that something would make it go faster.

'I can't believe it,' Tsuchiya said once both drivers were out of their cars.

'You better do,' Bunta replied.

'But, Fujiwara-san…I…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted him, 'weren't you going to call me Bunta?'

'Yeah, but…'

'I've lost,' Bunta said, 'you've beaten me fair and square. It's only right that you get to call me Bunta.'

'But I can't…' Keiichi insisted.

'You can and you must,' Bunta commanded, 'in fact, if you call me anything else, I'll just ignore you.'

Keiichi didn't seem to like that very much and he shook his head vigorously.

'Okay,' he gave in, 'I'll call you Bunta if you call me Keiichi.'

'But…'

'Take it or leave it,' Keiichi said, this time allowing himself a cheeky smile which only managed to make him look a few years younger than he really was.

'Okay, Keiichi it is,' Bunta conceded.

'And,' Keiichi continued, 'you've got to let me race you in Akina. I think I've beaten you only because I know that in that last corner, at this time of the night and this time of the year there's always a bit of extra frost on the grass which has made my car glide faster.'

Bunta could not believe what he was hearing.

'So,' he said, 'that's what you did…'

'Yep,' Keiichi replied, 'I know this road like the back of my hand so I had a little bit of advantage. That's why I want to race you in Akina too.'

'Look,' Bunta said, 'I'm not trying to make up excuses but…'

'You know,' Keiichi interrupted him, 'I haven't told anyone yet but I'm saving up every yen I can to buy the same car you used for the Fuji Series. At the rate I'm going, I should be able to debut in about two years from now. I know that I'll probably have to quit street racing or I'll get in trouble with the federation and that's one of the reasons why I want to race you now.'

'I see,' Bunta said, 'what's the other reason?'

'Well,' Keiichi replied, looking slightly embarrassed, 'if we don't race sometime soon, I fear that your skills will get way too good for my level. Just now…the way you drift…' he shuddered visibly.

Bunta could not help but to burst out laughing and, unable to do anything different, he nodded and said:

'Okay, we'll race in Akina, just not now. My life's got a little bit complicated at the moment and…'

'Tachibana-san told me that you just got married,' Keiichi said, 'so I take you want to spend some time with your new wife. I understand and, since you've got my number, just call me whenever you have the chance, okay?'

'Sure,' Bunta agreed.

'Regarding this race,' Keiichi said, 'I'd like to keep its outcome a secret. You're still my idol and I don't want anyone to know that you…well, I would prefer if no one knew about it.'

'But…'

'Bunta,' Keiichi said, 'one day, when I'm a professional racer and I'll be famous, I might decide to brag about it, but that day it's still too far so let's keep it a secret, please?'

Bunta nodded once more and, with that, his first loss ever was never officially recorded. When asked by the only three people present at the race, both him and Keiichi just pretended to go suddenly deaf. In any case, that night Bunta knew that he and that crazy kid called Keiichi Tsuchiya had established what would probably be a long-lasting friendship.

_To be continued…_


	55. Chapter Fifty Four

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty Four_

A little over three months after the race which had seen him losing to Keiichi Tsuchiya, Bunta stood in one of the PD3's laboratories with chief engineer Hiroshi Ueda. The two men stared at a half assembled S20 engine as though as they were both waiting for the piece of machinery to tell them what to do next.

'It's useless,' the middle aged man said, 'it's too hot. I'm too tired and, this thing…'

'It's useless,' Bunta finished for him.

'Precisely,' Hiroshi agreed, 'you know what? We should just go home and sleep on it.'

'It's the afternoon,' Bunta pointed out.

'So what?' Hiroshi challenged, 'it simply is too hot to continue working. If it's like that now that's only June, I don't even want to think of what's going to be like in July/August.'

Hiroshi was right, not even the state of the art cooling system which had been recently installed in the PD3 facilities made the extreme heat any more bearable. Even Bunta found that he had to wipe the bridge of his nose every now and then and that was nothing when compared at how bad it was when he had to drive, trapped inside his racing suit and a too tight fitting helmet, in the oven that was his race car.

'Let's do this,' Bunta proposed, 'why don't we go home now. We can meet up here later on, say after dinner so we see if there's anything else we can do?'

The engineer looked at him approvingly and, nodding, he said:

'That sounds like a good plan.'

With that, both men walked outside the building where the intense heat wave hit them mercilessly. Bunta rushed towards his 2000GT, the usual little smile appearing on his face. He really had a lot of guts to show up in a Nissan owned facility with a Toyota knowing that half of the staff admired him for it, the other half were always trying to figure out a way to damage the car without Bunta finding out about it.

Naturally, they were all too scared of Hiroshi Ueda to do anything nasty to Bunta since, for some strange reason, Ueda had taken an instant liking to the younger man making thus sure that no one would even dream of going anywhere near the 2000GT.

'Hey Bunta,' Hiroshi shouted while he climbed into his Nissan S10, 'if we get too tired of playing with that engine, we could always take a look at what's under that bonnet of yours…'

'Nice try,' Bunta joked, 'but not good enough.'

'Ah,' Hiroshi said, 'you're not fun.'

The two of them let out a chuckle and then, Bunta climbed into his Toyota, turning its powerful engine on while he observed the Silvia driving past him. The Nissan was two toned: it's top half was painted beige and the bottom one was a dark shade of chocolate brown. It kind of looked cool and, Bunta knew, was very much in fashion these days to paint the car in two different colours…

'Don't worry,' he said talking to the steering wheel, 'I'm not going to paint you brown.'

Maybe it was his imagination but he could have sworn that the car felt relieved hearing those words. He was probably going insane but he guessed that's what three months living with a woman like Midori would do to anybody.

Thinking about his wife made his smile vanish. Granted, the woman still did her best to be a good enough wife but, lately, she had started trying to get them to socialise with her friends and that's something Bunta simply refused to do.

One thing was being married to her, another one was having to dress up in stupid suits to go and spend supremely boring evenings with people he didn't know and who kept looking at him as though as he were some sort of asylum seeker.

For this reason and knowing that if he went back home at this time of the day he would have to be with her, he decided to drive all the way back to Shibukawa instead, feeling grateful that he had just filled the tank using PD3's pump. One good thing about working for a car make's research team was that he always got free petrol for his car, which, considering the stupidly high prices imposed by the different petrol companies in these difficult years of world-wide crisis, that was very good news indeed.

Speaking of the crisis, Bunta knew that Yuuichi was worried about his family's business and, since with petrol alone the Tachibana's station was probably doomed to closure, he had recently convinced his father to install a brand new, all-automatic car washing machine where people who filled their tanks would get a free wash.

Bunta admired the way Yuuichi was slowly becoming a worthy successor to his father and he knew that Tachibana-san had every intention of handing down the business the moment Yuuichi had a son, which probably explained the reason why he and his wife Fuka were quite eager to get pregnant.

Shaking off the usual nasty feeling he got whenever the subject went anywhere near the B word, Bunta pressed the accelerator so that he could get to Shibukawa as soon as possible and, less than an hour later, he was already entering the Tachibana's petrol station.

'Hey!' Yuuichi exclaimed seeing him there, 'what a surprise!'

'I know,' Bunta said feeling a little embarrassed all of a sudden, 'I got the afternoon off and…well, I just felt like coming to see an old friend.'

'That's awesome, it's been so long since we got to hang out together,' Yuuichi said, 'hey…if you can wait for a minute, I'll go and ask my father if I can take a break myself…'

'Sure,' Bunta replied. Then, he watched his best friend running towards the small building where the one-room office was. He laughed softly at the childish expression Yuuichi had when coming out of it: he smiled widely while making two victory signs with his two hands.

'Let's go,' Yuuichi said, climbing into Bunta's 2000GT.

Bunta laughed again and, shaking his head, he went back to sit behind the wheel. Once there, he assumed the pompous attitude chauffeurs were so famous for and said:

'Where would you like to go?'

'Akina,' Yuuichi quickly replied, 'let's go to the lake.'

Not needing to be told twice, Bunta turned the 2000GT's engine on and started driving towards the only place in the world where he felt at complete peace: the bendy and often impossibly narrow road which lead to the most beautiful lake Bunta had ever seen.

'So,' Yuuichi said once the two of them were sitting on top of the small docking area, with their shoes off and their trousers rolled up their legs, 'how are things going at your new job?'

'It's good,' Bunta replied playing with the water using both of his feet, 'Ueda-san is a nice enough guy. He knows almost as much as Katayama and I know that he's highly respected by the big shots at Nissan so, I'm paying a lot of attention to everything he says.'

'What about Midori?'

'I'd rather not talk about her,' Bunta replied, 'she's becoming a nightmare with all those dinner parties she wants us to attend. I'm lucky that Ueda-san likes working at night, especially now that's this hot.'

'I see,' Yuuichi said. He then remained quiet for a short while trying to rephrase a question he had asked numerous times in these past three months: 'so, that night, in Usui…'

'Oh gosh,' Bunta complained, 'not again.'

'Come on Bunta,' Yuuichi said, 'Masashi and I know that something happened. There was something very fishy in the way you and that kid were behaving.'

'Yuuichi, I've told you…'

'…you've got to keep it a secret,' Yuuichi finished for him, 'I know that. But I also know that you should trust me, after all, haven't I been keeping a HUGE secret for all these months without blabbing it to anyone?'

'You told Fuka-chan,' Bunta pointed out.

'She's my _wife_,' Yuuichi countered, 'besides, you know that she won't tell anybody either. Now, please…'

'Okay, okay,' Bunta finally surrendered, he got up and, trying to shake off the moist of his feet, he started walking towards the end of the dock, 'I lost,' he muttered, so softly that at first Yuuichi thought that he had heard wrong, 'I lost the race, fair and square.'

Yuuichi didn't know what to say.

'Keiichi doesn't want anyone to know because he thinks it will affect my reputation,' Bunta explained.

'And he's right!' Yuuichi exclaimed all of a sudden, 'can you imagine what people will say if they find out that you got beaten by a mere kid? Kogashiwa will have a field day with this.'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta interrupted, walking back to where his best friend was, 'that kid is amazing. He still has to work a little when it comes to polishing his skills but, he's got what it takes to make it huge in motorsports.'

'You think so?'

'I know so,' Bunta replied, 'no one I've ever raced against pushed me against my own limits more than he did. He's also as crazy as I am.'

Yuuichi let out a snort sounding half way between amused and incredulous.

'Besides,' Bunta continued, 'I'm going to race him here in Akina.'

'Really?'

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'I called him a few weeks ago and he told me that after our race he's been working triple-time and has even sold his S600 so that he can gather enough money as down payment for the Nissan he's been after. He told me that he will have it by the end of this month and that, after that, he needs a little more time to work on it. I told him that I'm prepared to wait for as long as he needs.'

'You're serious,' Yuuichi asked.

'Never been any more serious,' Bunta replied, 'there's something about this kid that makes me respect him as a rival. I hope that we both will get the chance to compete in a professional race where we'll be able to measure each other on equal terms.'

'You know,' Yuuichi started, using the kind of tone he always used when talking to Bunta about things he knew his best friend didn't want to hear, 'I think that this is exactly what Kogashiwa feels with you. I've been thinking about it and I believe that that's the reason why he insisted so much…'

'I know,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I already knew how Kogashiwa felt but I didn't want him to do me any favours. Besides, if it's our destiny to race each other again, there will be nothing I can do to prevent it. At the end of the day, if we're both involved in motorsports, chances are that we'll end up facing off sooner or later.

Yuuichi thought about it for a while.

'Hey,' he said, 'imagine this: you, Kogashiwa and that kid racing in the same event. Who do you think would win?'

'That's easy,' Bunta replied, 'I would. Losing isn't something I want to experience ever again.'

'I knew you'd say something like that,' a grinning Yuuichi said. Bunta smiled back and went to sit down next to him so that he could get his feet back inside the cool water.

Not too far from there, Eikichi was cleaning one of the tofu-making machines when he heard someone ringing the bell. It had to be an outsider for everyone in Shibukawa knew that the tofu shop's door was always open.

'Come in,' he shouted.

'Er…' a familiar looking guy said, 'excuse my intrusion but, I'm looking for Fujiwara Bunta.'

'Oh,' Eikichi said, 'you're that Yoshida, aren't you?'

'Yes,' Yoshida replied, 'I'm glad you remember me.'

'Of course,' Eikichi said, grabbing a clean cloth so that he could dry his hands while he walked to the living room followed by Yoshida. There, he invited the younger man to sit down and said, 'can I offer you anything to drink?

'No, thank you,' Yoshida replied, 'I've just come to check something with Bunta.'

'He doesn't live here anymore,' Eikichi replied taking his usual seat by the shelves.

'I know that,' Yoshida replied, 'Katayama told me that he's married Midori.'

'That's right,' Eikichi confirmed.

'Katayama also told me something really weird about her, he said Bunta told him she was pregnant.'

'Yes,' Eikichi confirmed, 'Midori-chan's pregnant. For some strange reason, Midori-chan wants to keep it a secret but Bunta felt it was only fair to let Katayama know. But I trust that you…' the old man stopped talking seeing the worried expression on Yoshida's face, 'what's wrong?'

'Er…' Yoshida hesitate, 'I'm not sure how to…well…it's just that…'

Right at that instant, the house's phone started ringing and, Eikichi looked at Yoshida apologetically before getting up to get the phone.

'Fujiwara Tofu Shop,' he then stopped talking while he listened to whoever was calling. Yoshida frowned and, if possible, looked even more worried seeing Eikichi's expression growing more and more concerned. After a few moments, the old man said, 'Midori-chan, don't worry now, I'll try and find Bunta and take him there.'

With that, he placed the receiver back in its hook and, looking at Yoshida, he said:

'Listen, I'm sorry to cut this short but I've got to find my nephew.'

'What's wrong?' Yoshida asked.

'Takashi's had an accident while practicing for his next race,' Eikichi replied, 'he's been taken to the hospital and, judging by what Midori said, things aren't looking too good.'

'Oh crap,' Yoshida said, 'where's Bunta now?'

'Hopefully at work,' Eikichi replied. He then went to get the small black book where he kept all the important numbers and proceeded to dial the one for the PD3. He waited till someone replied and said, 'hello, this is Fujiwara Eikichi, I'm looking for my nephew Bunta. Can I speak to him?'

He went quiet again.

'I see,' Eikichi said, 'no it's okay, I don't want to leave a message. Thanks.'

Hanging up the phone for the second time, he started trying to come up with a list of places where his nephew could be and was about to start searching for the Tachibana's number when he heard two very familiar voices coming inside the shop.

'Bunta!' he said. Eikichi then hurried towards the shop's working area followed by Yoshida.

'Fujiwara-san,' Yuuichi started, smiling happily, 'look who I found!'

'Bunta,' Eikichi repeated, keeping such a grave expression that both Yuuichi and Bunta stopped smiling, 'Midori-chan's just called. Takashi's had an accident and he's been taken to Yokohama University Hospital.'

'Oh shit…' Bunta breathed.

'Yeah,' Eikichi said, 'let's go…'

Hearing the old man's order set everyone in motion and, very soon, two cars were chasing each other: Bunta's 2000GT with Yuuichi onboard and Eikichi's Bellett with a terrified Yoshida grabbing himself to the seat while he tried to remember how to pray.

Needless to say, the two Fujiwaras got to Yokohama in a record-shattering time and both Yoshida and Yuuichi felt only grateful that they had made it in one piece to their destination which, ironically, was nothing but a hospital. Well, at least they were in the right place, in case any of the two started feeling ill.

'That man's crazier than Bunta,' Yoshida told Yuuichi while they followed uncle and nephew to the hospital's admissions desk. Yuuichi just nodded his heartfelt agreement. He had never ridden in Eikichi's Bellett with the old man driving but he could only guess what it had to feel like and it wasn't pretty.

Soon enough they were directed to the waiting room where they found Midori sitting there by herself. Bunta felt sorry for his wife: with all the 'friends' she seemed to have and, in such a difficult moment, she was on her own.

'Midori,' he said, 'where's your father?'

'Bunta!' she yelped, getting up from her seat and jumping into his arms in one single movement. He hugged her instinctively and started patting her hair.

'It'll be fine,' he said, 'Takashi's a strong guy, you'll see.'

'Oh Bunta, I'm so scared,' she sobbed.

'Shush,' Bunta muttered, 'try to calm down. In your condition it isn't good to get so stressed.'

Midori looked at him quickly and, for some reason, she frowned a little only to start smiling. She then hugged him even more tightly and said:

'I knew you cared for me.'

'Of course I care,' Bunta said, 'you're my wife, aren't you?'

She nodded and, at long last, allowed him to take her back to one of the chairs. There, he sat next to her doing his best to ignore the way the other three men were staring at them also because Midori hadn't noticed them yet.

'Has anyone told you what's wrong with your brother?' he asked her.

'No,' Midori replied, 'but apparently he's done something to his legs. Dad was with him and he's now talking to the people who were there, he should be joining us when he's done.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'now you need to relax. Do you want me to bring you anything to drink?'

'No,' Midori repeated, 'I don't want you to go anywhere.'

Bunta squeezed her hand reassuringly and, for the first time in a long time, he felt a rush of tenderness for Midori. Once again, he saw just how very much Midori cared for all the members of her family and this kind of made Bunta feel a bit better. If he was sure he would be a disaster as a father, he knew that Midori was going to be a great mum.

A few minutes later, Itachi-san stepped into the waiting room looking anything but worried. What was even more discomforting was the way he smiled seeing Bunta there.

'Oh, great,' he said, 'I'm happy you're here: I have superb news for you.'

'Dad…' Midori started.

'How is Takashi?' Bunta asked. Eikichi, Yuuichi and Yoshida had finally decided to take a seat and do their best to pretend they weren't there.

'He's not well,' Itachi-san replied, 'I just came from talking to one of the doctors and they aren't sure whether he'll be able to walk again.'

Midori gasped loudly while everyone's disgust started to mount: how could that man speak about something so dramatic with such a business-like tone of voice? Bunta found it hard to give it the benefit of the doubt when he asked:

'Isn't it too early to tell?'

'I don't know,' Itachi-san replied, 'I'm not a doctor. At any rate, we have bigger problems. Takashi's team will need a replacement and…'

'Wait a minute!' Bunta exclaimed getting up from his chair. He then took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, 'can we please not discuss this now?' he added pointing at Midori with his head. The woman had started to weep quietly.

'Why not?' Itachi-san asked, very obviously failing to see the point. Bunta was speechless.

'Er…' Eikichi hesitated, finally deciding to intervene, 'Bunta, I'm sure Itachi-san's worried…'

'Of course I'm worried!' Itachi-san exclaimed, 'do you have any idea of how long it's taken me to get Takashi a decent racing seat?'

'Itachi-san…' Eikichi started, only to get interrupted by Bunta who, looking like he was on the verge of losing it, he hissed:

'Your son is fighting for his life right now. Don't you think that it makes everything else irrelevant?'

'No,' was Itachi-san's shocking reply, 'I've worked too hard in my life to make it to where I am. I'm not going to let anything get on the way. Besides, I came here today to tell you that I've negotiated with Takashi's team to let you drive for them instead. You should be happy.'

'Happy?' Bunta asked incredulously, 'how can I be happy that Takashi can no longer walk? ARE YOU FUCKING MENTAL?'

'Bunta,' Itachi-san warned him, 'you're forgetting your place…'

'ON THE CONTRARY!' Bunta exploded, 'I KNOW MY PLACE VERY WELL AND I KNOW THAT YOU'RE MY BOSS BUT, YOU KNOW WHAT? IF IT WEREN'T BECAUSE MIDORI'S PREGNANT I'D RESIGN HERE AND NOW!'

That made everyone's eyes widen in shock. Those who knew about it were startled to hear Bunta revealing what had been top secret up to that moment, Midori was absolutely flabbergasted and oddly disturbed by the whole thing but, the one whose reaction earned the prize for being the weirdest was Itachi-san's:

The old man stared at Bunta as though as he were replaying the conversation in his brain then, he looked at his own daughter as if she had been the object of some sort of miracle.

'But…Midori…' he stuttered.

Midori remained sitting on her seat, her gaze focused on her lap while she nervously played with her three month old wedding ring. Only then Bunta realised what he had said and was about to open his mouth to try and fix his mistake when Yoshida got up and said something which shook everyone even more:

'Midori, there isn't a baby, is there?'

Bunta nearly cracked his neck due to the speed in which he turned to look at the engineer. He saw that Yoshida was very serious and that made him return his gaze to his wife who simply refused to look at anyone.

'Midori…' he started, his stomach growing cold with panic, 'what…'

'It's true!' she finally shouted, springing from her chair so fast that Bunta almost fell onto his butt.

'What's true?' Itachi-san asked and, right then, Yuuichi thought that if the situation got any more unreal, he would see John Lennon walking into the room asking where the bathroom was, 'Midori...'

'I'M NOT PREGNANT!' the woman finally shouted.

She then sat back and started crying harder than ever. Itachi-san didn't seem like he knew what was going on anymore, Yoshida and Eikichi exchanged a worried look while Yuuichi stared at Bunta who just stood there, completely immobile and with a blank expression on his face.

_To be continued…_


	56. Chapter Fifty Five

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty Five_

Before his brain registered what had just happened, Bunta was already running along the hospital's corridor, knocking a little trolley in the process and leaving a very startled nurse behind. He didn't care: all he wanted was to get out of the building so that he could get away from his wife as fast as he could.

He climbed into the 2000GT doing his best to ignore the little voice which told him that driving while being this furious was not a happy idea and, within just a few instants, he was on his way to only goodness knew where.

Back at the hospital's waiting room, Eikichi didn't waste time to talk to any of the people there. The only thing he did before walking out of the room was to look at Yuuichi who, taking the hint, proceeded to follow the old man leaving Yoshida there with a stunned looking Itachi-san and Midori who was still sobbing, a lot like the spoilt little girl she really was.

'You…' Itachi-san started, looking at Yoshida accusingly.

'Don't even think of getting me involved,' Yoshida interrupted him putting his hands forward.

'Mark my words,' Itachi-san barked, 'if that brat doesn't come back this instant, his career is over.'

Yoshida let out a mirthless chuckle and, after sparing a glance at Midori, trying to convey to her all the pity he felt for her, he then glared at Itachi-san and using his iciest tone of voice, he said:

'Bunta's career was over the moment he let you take care of it. But don't worry: I have every intention of helping him fix his mistake.'

With that, he turned round and walked out of the room, quickening his pace for he had just realised that unless he managed to catch up with Bunta's uncle, he would be stranded in the middle of Yokohama without the faintest idea of how to get back to Shibukawa.

Meanwhile, Bunta was so livid with fury that he wasn't even paying attention to where he was going; disregarding all the traffic around him so badly that he had already forced several other drivers to slam their cars' brakes in order to prevent a collision with the speeding 2000GT.

All of a sudden, as though as he had just woken up from a bad dream, he recognised the area in which he was; he hadn't been there in over four years but the place hadn't changed a bit and the streets were still the same he remembered from when he used to play there with his schoolmates such a long time ago.

Bunta was driving past the old baseball field when, for some unknown reason, felt like stopping there. Climbing out of the car, he wondered if it would still be open at that time of the evening when he saw a couple of boys coming out of it, talking about some game they had just seen on TV.

Taking a few gulps of the warm air the summer had finally brought with it, he walked all the way to the grandstand under which he'd hidden to cry his eyes out the day his parents had died and, finding the very same wooden pole, he decided to sit there for a while.

He still could not believe what Midori had done.

In the rank of the worst things a woman could do to a man, faking a pregnancy in order to trap a man into marriage had to be in the top three. He didn't need to ask himself the reason why she'd done it for he knew only too well that he would have never married her had she not been pregnant.

Except that she wasn't.

Once again, he felt his eyes growing moist and, for the second time that year, he allowed himself to cry only that, this time, among the many contradicting feelings which were quickly invading his being the one which was the strongest was relief.

He had a very, very lucky escape.

In between his tears, he felt his lips curling into a smile and, right after, he let out a chuckle which quickly became a fit of hysterical laughter. He didn't stop one instant to think about the off-chance that someone might still be around the field and, for the first time in a horribly long time, he felt free.

A couple of hours later, three worried men were sitting by the table at Eikichi's living room, wondering where else they could look for Bunta since the young man hadn't gone back to the tofu shop as Eikichi had optimistically predicted.

'Fujiwara-san,' Yoshida said, 'you don't think he's still in Yokohama, do you?'

'No,' Eikichi replied, 'I don't think he's going to go back to that apartment. Not tonight at least.'

'Maybe we should go to one of the other passes,' Yuuichi suggested.

'No, he'll come here,' Eikichi said not sounding too convinced. Yuuichi noticed with concern that the man was looking slightly paler than usual and was about to start praying so that Bunta would come back home before his uncle got sick again when, as on cue, they heard the shop's outer door opening.

'Eikichi?'

'BUNTA!' the old man shouted getting up with the agility of someone much younger than his fifty one years of age but before he could move away from the table, Bunta entered the room looking awfully tired and his eyes puffier than ever. Despite that and strangely enough, he was smiling happily.

'Uncle Eikichi,' Bunta started, no longer smiling but still looking fairly relaxed, 'I'm sorry I ran away like that. I…I needed some space…'

'I understand,' Eikichi said. He then ruffled his nephew's hair and started smiling too, 'so, now that you've been doing some thinking, what are you going to do?'

Bunta, trying to hide the embarrassment caused by the sudden display of affection, got as serious as possible and said:

'Well, I'm not exactly an expert in terms of family law but…'

'Bunta,' Yoshida interrupted him, 'what Midori's done is a good enough reason for you to file for an annulment. When you'll tell the registrar's office what she's done, it won't take long for you to get the marriage invalidated. This way you won't have to get a divorce.'

'Can I do that?' Bunta asked, this time looking at his uncle for confirmation.

'I think so,' Eikichi replied.

'It should save you a lot of trouble,' Yuuichi intervened, 'because if you get a divorce, you might end up having to pay her compensation: this way you won't owe her anything.'

'You seem to know a lot about that,' Bunta teased him.

'Well,' an untroubled Yuuichi replied, 'I AM a married man and I love my wife but, do you think I'd sign a life-long contract without reading the small print? Plus one of my uncles is a lawyer, I know about this kind of stuff…'

Bunta looked at his best friend trying to decide whether to be impressed by Yuuichi's extensive knowledge or to be freaked out that someone who claimed to be in love would go and check something like that. At any rate, he knew Yuuichi well enough to know all about his scrupulous attitude when it came to details so he just decided to look at his uncle and say:

'Okay, I'll go tomorrow morning to speak to someone at the registry office and see what I need to do.'

'Good,' Eikichi agreed, 'now, about your career.'

'There's nothing he's got to worry about,' Yoshida said, 'in fact, I didn't come back from Europe to…'

'Hang on,' Bunta interrupted, 'weren't you in the US?'

'Yes,' Yoshida replied, 'I did go to the US first, we had a seminar there; but I've spent the past half year in between France and the UK. I also went to Italy but only out of curiosity.'

'Wow,' Yuuichi gasped, 'I wish I could go to all these places. The furthest I've been from home is when I went to Okinawa for my honeymoon.'

The other three men looked at him, their faces clearly expressing how negligible they all thought this bit of information was. Then, as if Yuuichi hadn't even spoken, Yoshida reassumed his speech:

'While I was in France I met a few fellow Japanese engineers and one of them was thinking of setting up a rallying team. I know that you've been dreaming of debuting in the touring championship but…'

'You think it's better if he races in rallies?' Eikichi asked with his usual neutral tone of voice.

'Yes, I do,' Yoshida replied, 'but, of course, that's up to him. I'm just suggesting that…'

No one knew what he wanted to suggest for, right at that moment, the phone started ringing. Everyone looked at each other and, at long last, Eikichi decided to go and pick the receiver up. With a bit of luck it'd be someone who had dialled the wrong number.

'Fujiwara Tofu Shop,' he said.

'Fujiwara-san, this is Itachi here.'

'I'm hanging up,' was Eikichi's dry reply.

'NO!' Itachi exclaimed, 'wait! My son…'

'Listen,' Ekichi said, 'I'm probably sorrier about what's happened to your son than you are but after what your daughter's done I'm going to have to look out for my nephew's best interests. Because of that, this conversation is over.'

With this, he hung up the phone. He hadn't even moved away from it when it started ringing again. With an exasperated sigh, he picked the receiver up one more time and said:

'Listen I…'

'My son wants to speak to Bunta,' Itachi-san blurted out.

Eikichi remained silent for a few instants during which he stared at his nephew who, in return, looked at his uncle inquisitively. Meanwhile both Yoshida and Yuuichi decided to remain quiet, making it all a very surreal situation.

'Fujiwa-'

'Takashi's awake?' Eikichi asked.

'Yes,' Itachi-san replied, 'and he wants to see your nephew.'

'I'll let him know,' Eikichi promised, 'and if he feels like it, he'll go. If he doesn't, then this is probably the last time we're going to speak to each other without a lawyer being present.'

With that, the old man hung up the phone for the second time and, without wasting a minute, he explained the contents of the call to a very surprised looking Bunta.

'He wants to speak to me?' he asked.

'Yep,' Eikichi replied, 'what do you want to do?'

'I'm not sure.'

'Don't worry then,' Eikichi said, 'if you don't feel like going anywhere near the Itachi, then we can just forget about…'

'Eikichi,' Bunta interrupted, 'I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I think it's better if we all sleep on it and think about it tomorrow,' then, looking at Yoshida, he added, 'I'm sorry, I…'

'No need to apologise,' Yoshida said, 'after what you've been through in the past few hours it's only natural that you'll need some time to think about your future.'

'That's right,' Bunta agreed, 'however, there's one thing I need to know. How did you know about…you know…'

'Bunta,' Yoshida replied, 'I've known Midori for a long time. I knew that she couldn't have babies even since before we started dating. She was always honest about it.'

'Unlike with me,' Bunta said miserably.

'Yeah,' Yoshida said, 'I'm not sure why she did that though.'

'I have a couple of ideas,' Yuuichi added before he could stop himself.

'At any rate,' Eikichi said quickly, 'I think we all need to go and get some rest. Tomorrow will be a brand new day and we'll take it from there, okay?

'Sure,' Bunta replied then, glancing at his uncle looking slightly ashamed, he said, 'Uncle Eikichi, since I'm kind of homeless at the moment.'

'Rubbish,' Eikichi interrupted, 'you're not homeless: for as long as I own this house, you'll always be welcome here. In fact, I think you ought to move back in here as soon as you can.'

'I'd like that,' Bunta said, finding it very comforting that Eikichi seemed to be missing him as much as he missed living with the old man, 'thanks a lot,' he added as an afterthought.

'Rubbish,' Eikichi repeated, this time visibly moved by his nephew's grateful expression. He then looked at Yuuichi and said, 'you've got a wife who's probably waiting for you, haven't you?'

'Yes, sir,' Yuuichi replied, 'I'm shall take my leave too then.'

With this, both Yuuichi and Yoshida left the two Fujiwara on their own; Bunta wondered whether his uncle was going to talk to him about what had happened but seeing the older man on his way to the stairs made the message quite clear to him.

'You're going to bed?' Bunta asked him.

'Yep,' Eikichi replied turning round to look at his nephew, 'I'm a little tired. I'll get a nap and then I'll need to prepare the delivery for tonight.'

'Eikichi,' Bunta said, 'why don't you stay in bed? I'll take care of it.'

'But…'

'I can't sleep right now,' Bunta interrupted him, 'and you've had a very intense day today, I think you should just have a good night of sleep.'

Eikichi let out a soft chuckle.

'Shouldn't I be the one saying that to you?' he asked.

'Nah,' Bunta replied, giving himself a know-it-all air, 'besides, I could do with something to get my mind off things and you really need to take things easy, and you know it.'

Eikichi looked at him and, after a moment, he nodded and said:

'Well, I take you still know how to make some decent tofu.'

'Hey,' Bunta warned him, 'who do you think you're talking to?'

Eikichi laughed again and, instead of replying, he just shook his head giving his nephew a knowing look. Then he just turned round and started climbing the stairs leaving Bunta alone in the middle of the living room. Judging by the slow speed in which he was climbing the stairs, Bunta realised that Eikichi was a lot more tired than he even wanted to admit.

This made him feel rather worried.

His uncle was right: he needed to move back into the shop so that he could take care of a few things so that Eikichi would get as much rest as possible. Also, maybe in a few weeks time, he would start trying to convince the old man to go and get himself checked properly.

For now, he had a lot of work to do.

When a few hours later he loaded the wooden boxes in the trunk of the old Isuzu Bellett, he spent a few instants taking a good look around the small space where Eikichi parked his car. He also stared for a while at the tiny two floored building where his uncle lived.

Comparing it to the stupidly big and overly posh apartment where he'd been living in the past three months, the little shop was, at best, a rather shabby place which would need a lot of refurbishing to make it look anywhere near decent but, just because of that, Bunta thought that it gave it the kind of appearance a proper home needed.

At any rate, he had just decided something very important: no matter how famous he became, no matter what he did in the future, he didn't want to live anywhere else but there. He had grown so fond of the place that he would live in the tofu shop for as long as his uncle would allow him to.

Bunta then climbed into the car and, as always, felt rather impressed about the gorgeous sound which came from its well kept engine. It probably needed a little bit of tuning but nothing which couldn't be fixed in a good workshop session.

For the first time in ages, Bunta just drove the car without worrying about anything. He just needed to make sure he wouldn't damage the tofu but, for the rest, he drove without any pressure and, for the second time that day, he felt freer than he'd been in a long time.

'What are you doing in here?' Ryo-san, the inn's old cook, asked him seeing him setting the boxes onto the large kitchen's worktop, 'I thought that…'

'It's just a temporary thing,' Bunta replied.

'Is your uncle okay?' Ryo-san asked, now looking worried.

'Yeah,' Bunta hurried to say, 'he's just a little tired so I've decided I'll help him for a bit.'

'Ah,' Ryo-san said, 'I've told him: he needs to slow down or,' he stopped speaking before he could say something he'd regret, 'I mean…'

'It's okay,' Bunta reassured him, 'I know what you mean.'

Ryo-san smiled apologetically and, before Bunta could feel bad about the whole thing, he gave the old man a polite bow, took the two empty containers which stood next to the full ones and, mumbling something like 'goodday', he went back to the Isuzu.

Since he had a little bit of time, he decided to set the boxes down next to it and, bypassing the car, he went to sit by the lake. It was really warm despite the early hour and for one crazy moment he considered the chance of going into the water for a swim.

'Nah, too much trouble,' he mumbled to himself.

Instead, he lied down onto the pebbly beach and stared at the clearing sky, trying to find a few of the stars which were still visible at that time of the morning. He stayed there for an indefinite amount of time, trying his best to decide what he wanted to do with his life.

At long last, he got up and, taking a stone in his hand, he threw it into the water, pausing to observe the way the concentric circles expanded, becoming bigger and bigger. He then made his way back to his car and, right after climbing into it, he decided to throw caution to the winds.

A good downhill drive, that's what he needed now.

By the time he made it all the way to Shibukawa, he was laughing. It had been so long since he'd felt that way, since he'd remembered the addictive thrill he got from driving. Something he hadn't felt in such a long time that he thought that he was no longer able to feel it.

It was the best sensation in the world.

Less than five hours later, he and Eikichi went to the registrar's office to figure out what they could do to get the marriage annulled and after explaining the situation to the clerk in charge, it turned out that it was a lot easier than they had even dreamed of.

'So,' Bunta said, 'you're saying that once I sign this document here, you'll take care of the rest?'

'Yes,' the clerk, a chubby and middle aged man, said, 'we'll just verify your version of the facts and, providing that the other party isn't planning on pursuing a lawsuit, we should have the marriage annulled within a couple of weeks.'

'Are you serious?' Bunta asked his voice loaded with disbelief, 'that soon?'

'Yes,' the clerk replied, 'unless of course you want to think about it…maybe you'd change your mind and…'

'Oh no,' Bunta interrupted him, 'believe me: I won't change my mind about this.'

'Okay,' the man said, 'then, if you're one hundred percent sure, you just need to sign and put your stamp on this application form here.'

Without thinking twice, Bunta pressed his stamp onto the piece of paper and even before the ink had the time to dry it was also signed with his full name. If everything went according to his plans, he would be a truly free man in less than a fortnight.

'So,' Eikichi said while the two men were walking out of the public building, 'what's next?'

'I'm off to Yokohama,' Bunta announced, 'I'm going to see Takashi to see what he wants.'

'Bunta…'

'And after that,' Bunta continued, 'I'm done with the Itachi. I promise.'

'Are you sure that's what you want?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'I've never been surer of anything in my life.'

'Okay,' Eikichi said, 'in that case, you better go now. I'll walk home.'

'Eikichi…'

'Hey,' the old man said, 'stop ordering me around. It's not too far and I feel fine. I slept for a lot longer than I'm used to and I feel all stiff so I definitely need the exercise.'

Bunta laughed softly and said:

'You're just bored.'

'And whose fault is that?' Eikichi said, looking at his nephew accusingly, 'honestly, you didn't need to clean the whole shop. What am I supposed to do all day now?'

'You could go and taunt Nitta-san for a bit,' Bunta suggested only half-jokingly.

'Now,' a suddenly enthusiastic Eikichi said, 'that's an excellent idea.'

Bunta laughed again and, before he could express his doubts regarding the whole thing, Eikichi just walked away from him, whistling some old-fashioned tune while he did so. The young man smiled and, yet again, felt happy to be back with his uncle: he'd missed that crazy old man!

An hour and a bit later, he was parking his Toyota at the hospital's car park and, for the second time in less than twenty four hours, he entered the building where his soon-to-be ex-brother in law had been admitted to recover from his horrific accident.

He was about to get off the elevator when he saw Midori standing there, waiting for the doors to open.

'Bunta…'

'I'm here for your brother,' he said, his voice clipped with anger, 'and I'd appreciate it if you don't talk to me ever again.'

'But…'

Bunta just walked past her, doing his best to ignore her. Unfortunately she was too fast for him and managed to grab his arm forcing him to stop.

'Baby,' she said, using what he knew wanted to be a pleading tone of voice, 'don't you want to know the reason why I did what I did?'

The young man took a very deep breath and refusing to look at anything else but the floor between his feet, he loaded his voice with as much coldness as he could muster and said:

'In all honesty, I couldn't care less.'

With that, he snatched his arm from her grasp and continued walking forward and, doing his best to ignore the fact that Midori was following him, Bunta knocked on the door of the room where Takashi was. He opened it even before he got permission to do so and found his ex-team mate there, on his own.

'Fujiwara,' he managed to say with a very weak sounding voice.

'I was told you wanted to talk to me,' Bunta said. He tried to keep his eyes away from the medical apparel which surrounded Takashi's bed as well as the metallic bars which kept both of his maimed legs hoisted and immobilised. It was a rather disturbing sight and Bunta forced himself to block the entire thing from entering his mind.

'I did…'

'Before you start though,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I want to know if you've been informed about what's happened between your sister and I.'

'Bunta…' Midori started.

'I do,' Takashi replied, 'and I also know that you're probably not going to want to have anything to do with our family ever again. However, I want to ask you one last favour.'

'And what favour is that?' Bunta asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.

'You see,' Takashi said, 'I know that my father's cleared it with the management so, will you please complete the JTCC season for me? If you do that, I'll make sure that you get your wish too.'

_To be continued…_


	57. Chapter Fifty Six

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty Six_

Considering how confused Bunta was, it took him a lot shorter than he thought to reach Toyota City, where the homonymous car maker had their headquarters and, of course, the buildings which housed their Testing Department. He hoped that he'd find Yoshida somewhere there; otherwise he'd have to go back to Gunma empty-handed.

Bunta was well aware that it would probably have been better to give Yoshida a phone call instead of showing up uninvited and unannounced. At any rate, it was a tad too late: he was there and he desperately needed to see Yoshida.

He had just finished this thought when he found the rather non-descript entrance of the Toyota Testing Department; predictably, there was a barrier blocking the way and even before Bunta had the time to roll his car's window down, a uniformed guard came out of his tiny booth.

Bunta could have burst out laughing seeing the other young man's surprised face hearing the 2000GT's powerful engine, and just to get a kick out of it, Bunta revved it pressing the accelerator a little so that the engine's purr would get even louder.

'G-good morning,' the guard stuttered.

'Hello,' Bunta said before quickly adding, 'I'm here to see Yoshida Akio, he's one of the designers for…'

'Do you have an appointment?' the guard interrupted.

'Er…' Bunta hesitated, 'yes, I'm here because he needs to speak to me.'

He wasn't sure if the guard had bought his lie but, it didn't matter; he hoped that Yoshida wouldn't have any problems to meet up with him. At any rate, the guard walked back into his booth to go and call what Bunta guessed was Yoshida's direct line.

Less than thirty seconds later, the guard came back out of his post and said:

'Alright, you need to drive to building C, that's the third to your left and park in there, Yoshida-san said that he'd wait for you at the door. If he's not there, please don't wander on your own and, here,' he added handing him a little badge holder which identified him as a VISITOR, 'you need to carry this visible at all times.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said taking the card, pinning it carefully onto his shirt, 'and have a great day.'

'You too,' the guard replied.

After waiting patiently for the barrier to be lifted, Bunta drove very slowly towards building C where, surprisingly enough, he saw Yoshida already there waiting for him. The older man sported a half confused half amused expression and didn't even greet Bunta when he finally turned the engine off and climbed out of the 2000GT.

'You know,' Yoshida said instead, 'technically speaking, I shouldn't let you inside these premises.'

'Why not?' Bunta asked looking rather puzzled.

'Well,' Yoshida replied, 'you _do _work for one of our competitors…'

'Ah, yeah,' Bunta said smiling sheepishly. The other way round was true too: Ueda-san and the rest of the people from Nissan's PD3 would flip if they saw him inside Toyota's testing facilities…

'Oh well,' Yoshida started, 'it's not like we can't trust you. After all, you have been driving that car of yours with our engine for a while and you've never let any of the PD3 guys anywhere near it, have you?'

'No,' Bunta replied firmly, 'no way I would.'

'Like I said,' Yoshida said, 'we can trust you. Now, let's get to my office so we can talk, something tells me this is going to be a fairly long chat.'

'Yep,' Bunta replied. Now that Yoshida had reminded him of it, he suddenly recalled the reason why he'd driven for over an hour and he really was looking forward to getting some of the advice he needed so that he could figure out what to do next.

He was so taken by his own thoughts that he didn't even see the laboratories where Yoshida and his team worked. Not that he would have seen anything new: the whole place didn't look much different than the facilities the PD3 had in their Yokosuka site.

'Do you want anything to drink?' Yoshida asked him while taking a seat behind his very full and rather messy desk, so much so that a pile of papers were half-covering an old typewriter; he then invited Bunta to sit on one of the two chairs which were placed right in front of it.

'No, thanks,' Bunta replied and, taking a deep breath, he proceeded to explain to Yoshida everything which had happened to him in that very long morning, ending with Takashi's very disturbing yet inviting proposal to race in his place in the JTCC.

'And what did you tell him?' Yoshida asked, keeping both his face and voice neutral.

'I said I needed to think about it,' Bunta replied.

'Right,' Yoshida said, 'and why did you come here to see me?'

'Well…' Bunta started, he suddenly felt embarrassed.

'Don't get me wrong,' Yoshida added, 'I'm flattered if you'd consider me to come for a few words of advice but…'

'That's exactly what I need,' Bunta interrupted him.

'Why don't you ask your uncle?'

'I will,' Bunta assured, 'but I needed to ask you for a favour first.'

'You do?' Yoshida asked.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'you see, I do want to get advice from you, your expertise regarding the racing world is, to say the least, a whole lot better than mine, but it's not what I need the most at the moment.'

'What is it that you need Bunta?' Yoshida asked and, judging by his tone, Bunta knew that it wasn't going to be anywhere near as embarrassing nor difficult to say what he'd come here to say:

'I need you to help me keep Itachi-san out of my way.'

Yoshida looked at Bunta with a knowing expression, almost as if the older man had seen this coming. Bunta had to admit that Yoshida was nearly as frightening as his own uncle when it came to predicting what people would do next. Bunta was going to open his mouth to speak when Yoshida nodded.

'Okay,' he also said, 'I think I know what you want me to do and I'll be happy to do it.'

'You will?'

'Yes,' Yoshida replied, 'naturally, I can't do it officially since I'm employed by Toyota but there's nothing on my contract which prevents me from giving a bit of guidance to a young man like you, is there?'

'No, I guess not,' Bunta replied.

'So,' Yoshida said, 'you're going to take on Takashi-kun's offer. I can't say I'm entirely happy to hear this, considering how I had everything nearly ready for you to debut in rallying next year but, I think racing in the JTCC will do you good.'

'How so?' Bunta asked more out of curiosity than anything else.

'Well,' Yoshida replied, 'I'm getting to know you well enough to know that if you don't try it out at least once, you won't be able to get it out of your system and, whereas I think you'll prefer rallying over circuit-based racing, I also know that it's a bad idea to start something without having a clean slate first. Am I wrong?'

'No, you're not,' Bunta said offering Yoshida a small smile.

'Now we have that out of the way,' Yoshida continued, 'I think I'll need Katayama to cover for me so that I can try and go to as many races as possible.'

'Why? This isn't going to get you in trouble with your company, is it?'

'Yeah,' Yoshida replied honestly, 'I'm sure the big bosses wouldn't be happy if they knew what I'm going to do.'

'No, they probably wouldn't,' Bunta agreed, 'you'll be helping Nissan to win a few of the JTCC races.'

'Win?' Yoshida asked raising his eyebrows in surprise, 'you're thinking of _winning_ already?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied with his usual arrogant tone, 'is there anything else to do in a race?'

'No,' Yoshida replied shaking his head while clearly repressing a chuckle, 'you know Bunta, if there's something you'll never need help with is your confidence; if a car could run with it, you'd get yours to the moon and back!'

For some reason, the drive back from Toyota City to Shibukawa was even shorter and, less than an hour later, Bunta found himself sitting by the low table in the small living room with his uncle in front of him. It only took him a few minutes to summarise what had happened since they'd parted ways at the registrar office earlier that morning.

'So,' Bunta finished, 'what do you think?'

Eikichi took a couple of seconds to gather his thoughts then, slowly, he nodded once and said:

'I can't say I'm happy to know that you'll still have to do with the Itachi.'

'Indirectly,' Bunta interrupted, 'Itachi-san is only a minor sponsor of the team.'

'Even so,' Eikichi continued, 'I'm sure that Itachi-san will try to get back at you for breaching the contract you signed with them but, something tells me that this Yoshida knows what he's doing.'

'He does,' Bunta reassured him, 'having his support with this is the only reason why I'm going to accept Takashi's offer.'

'There's one thing I feel I need to say though,' Eikichi said.

'What is it?' Bunta asked.

'I think you ought to start relying only on yourself,' Eikichi replied, 'I know that the professional racing world is hard and that you can't get anywhere within it unless you have the right connections but, I think that if you carry on like this…'

'Eikichi,' Bunta interrupted, 'I know what you're going to say and, trust me, I won't rely on Yoshida to get by. I just need his advice when it comes to dealing with Itachi-san and his family, since he obviously has experience with that. I know that I need to start making my own decisions too and, just as Yoshida's said, I know that unless I give the JTCC a go, I won't be able to focus on rallying.'

'Okay,' Eikichi said, 'just so you know…'

'You're here too,' Bunta finished for him, 'I know that. I just hope that you know that I'm here for you too and that I'll carry on helping you with the shop as much as I can and I don't want to hear any protests from you.'

'Bunta…'

'Uncle Eikichi,' Bunta interrupted him, 'you know as well as I do that you aren't as healthy as you want us all to believe and since you know how important it is for a racer to have some peace of mind, I'm going to need you to let me take care of you and the shop for as long as it takes for you to get better.'

His firm words seemed to do the trick and Eikichi, for the first time ever allowed himself to look as tired and frail as he truly was; this made Bunta's heart cringe painfully inside his chest and it also gave Bunta enough of an incentive to quit playing around, he needed to get real and do exactly what he had just promised: from now on, he'd be the one who would take care of his own career.

To begin with, he waited till the day after to pay a quick visit to Takashi who, happily enough, was alone and feeling slightly better. Bunta would never think of the slightly older guy as his friend but, as a fellow racer, he did feel some degree of sympathy, and not only because of what had happened to him on the track.

'Hi,' Takashi said seeing him there.

'Hello,' Bunta replied.

'I take you're here to give me your reply,' Takashi said, trying his best to indicate the chair with a small gesture of his head, the movement obviously hurt somewhere else for he winced a bit.

'Stay still,' Bunta ordered while taking a seat. He took a moment to observe around the room, looking for signs which would tell him whether Midori was there or not. The last thing his resolution needed was having her anywhere near him…

'My sister isn't here,' Takashi said, 'she's hiding in our parents' house at the moment.'

'Ah, I see…'

'I still can't believe what she did,' Takashi commented, almost as though as he was talking to himself, 'of all schemes she's come up with during her life, this one has to top them all.'

'I'm glad you find it amusing,' Bunta said icily.

'Don't get me wrong,' Takashi said, 'I'm disgusted she'd do something like that to get you to marry her, I don't need to tell you how much I hated you and her getting married at all but, as a man, I can't forgive a woman doing something as low as that, not even if said woman is my own sister.'

Bunta chose to say nothing.

'Anyway,' Takashi continued, 'you're here to give me an answer, I hope.'

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'I'll do it.'

'You'll do what?'

'Don't be thick,' Bunta admonished, 'I'll race in that team of yours.'

This time it was Takashi's turn to remain silent.

'What I want to know is this,' Bunta carried on, 'what makes you so sure Midori won't make it difficult for me to get an annulment?'

'I can't tell you that she won't,' Takashi said, 'but I can assure you that I can manage to make our father see that getting this annulment will make it easier for him and his company. I'll need your help for that too though.'

'My help?' Bunta asked, now getting slightly suspicious. Maybe the whole deal really was too good to be true.

'Yes,' Takashi replied, 'you see, we need a good story so that my sister doesn't lose face in front of our family's friends and my father's business partners.'

'So?' Bunta asked.

'So,' Takashi copied, 'what I'll need for you to do is to go along with the pantomime that you two got married without knowing each other well enough and you coming from a…how should I put it?'

'The wrong social class?' Bunta supplied with a large dose of sarcasm.

'Yes, that's right,' Takashi said obliviously, 'so, your background proved too different from hers and you two couldn't work it out, thus making your marriage impossible. It happens often enough.'

Bunta couldn't find any flaw in this line of reasoning and, after all, it's not like he was ashamed of his modest social condition and, in the end, if this was what it took for him to get Midori out of his life forever, he was more than happy to oblige.

'Okay,' he said, 'that sounds reasonable.'

'I'm glad you think so,' Takashi said. Bunta nodded and then a thought crossed his mind:

'Another thing I need to know is this: why me?'

'To be honest,' Takashi started, 'asides myself, I can't think of anyone who can drive the Nissan as well as you can and, since I want to keep that seat for next year, I think I'll need Sakamoto-san to owe me a favour.'

'Sakamoto-san?'

'Sakamoto Tatsuya,' Takashi replied, 'he's the team's owner and a good friend of my father. I'm going to need to set an appointment for you to meet him, how does next Saturday sound to you?'

'Fine,' Bunta replied.

'Good,' Takashi said, 'now, I take that once you leave this room, we'll not speak to each other again, am I right?'

'Yes, you're right,' Bunta replied.

'Good,' Takashi repeated, 'well then, thanks in advance and, good luck, you're going to need it.'

Had it not been because the warning came from a guy whose legs had both been broken in an accident with the car Bunta was about to race in, he would have taken offence; as it was, he simply nodded and thanked Takashi just before leaving the guy's room.

A week later, he drove to Yokohama with Yoshida to meet up with Sakamoto Tatsuya in the office he'd just set up for the Sakamoto Racing Team. Bunta was more than a little wary of the unknown man, especially after he'd found out that Sakamoto was yet another one of Itachi-san's powerful friends.

'Don't worry,' Yoshida said talking from the passenger seat of the 2000GT, 'if this Sakamoto is anywhere near as decent as a team manager as he should to compete in the JTCC, he probably cares more about your driving skills rather than about his friendship with Itachi-san.'

'You think so?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Yoshida replied, 'listen, this guy spends a great deal of his time gathering funds for the team. I don't need to tell you that his job is much easier if his drivers do well during the races so, at the end of the day, all he wants from you is to ensure that his sponsors are impressed enough to think that they're doing a good investment when they give their money to the team.'

'But Itachi-san is one of his sponsors,' Bunta pointed out.

'Exactly,' Yoshida said, 'he's just one of his sponsors. And I'll bet you anything Sakamoto sees the whole thing as a purely business relationship. You should just worry about doing what you do well: drive as insanely fast as you love so much and you'll be fine.'

'That should be easy enough,' Bunta said with such nonchalance that it made Yoshida smile.

Bunta parked the 2000GT next to modern looking building which was only half-occupied by offices, the rest were still pending to be let to other companies. He didn't know what to make of this but Yoshida seemed impressed enough and that, Bunta thought, probably was a good thing.

The two of them walked into the building where they found a male receptionist who quickly told them to go up to the fourth floor. There, they saw the team's logo on one of the doors which was ajar and, through the gap they saw a desk and a man sitting behind it talking on the phone.

Yoshida didn't seem to be bothered by this for he walked straight to the door and, knocking softly on it, he waited to see if Sakamoto noticed him. The man did and, with a small gesture of his hand, asked both Yoshida and Bunta to come into the room which turned out to be a whole lot tidier than Yoshida's own office.

'Sorry about this,' Sakamoto said when he finally placed the receiver down, he then looked at Bunta and added, 'Itachi-san was trying to persuade me to let him assist to your test drive.'

'Test drive?' Yoshida asked right before Bunta could form the words.

'Oh yes,' Sakamoto replied smiling, now that he noticed, Bunta saw that the man was just a little younger than his uncle Eikichi but seemed every bit as fit as Bunta himself was. That and the fact that Sakamoto was a very handsome man made him look like a movie star rather than the racing team manager he was supposed to be. Thinking all of this nearly made Bunta miss the fact that Sakamoto just wanted to see for himself what he'd heard from several sources regarding Bunta's driving abilities and, for this, he'd arranged a quick test which could take place that same afternoon, 'that is,' Sakamoto added, 'if the timing is suitable for both of you.'

'Yes, it is,' Yoshida replied.

'I take you're Fujiwara-kun's manager,' Sakamoto asked looking at Yoshida.

'Oh no,' Yoshida replied, 'I'm just a friend who will act as his advisor when needed.'

'I see,' Sakamoto said. To his credit, his smile didn't falter at all, if anything, it grew wider. He then said that he needed to make a quick phone call to the track and that, if they wanted, they could head there at their earliest convenience.

Taking this as a cue, Yoshida stood up and Bunta did the same. The two men left Sakamoto alone once again and, just as they were exiting the office, Bunta noticed that Yoshida was looking rather pleased about something.

Less than five minutes later, Sakamoto walked out of his office and, locking the door behind him, he invited Yoshida and Bunta to follow him down and out of the building, there, they walked to the car park where they had left the 2000GT. Seeing Bunta's car, Sakamoto let out a long, appreciative whistle.

'Wow,' he said, 'that's a really nice machine you've got here.'

'I know,' Bunta said, doing his best not to appear smug.

'Pity it's a Toyota,' Sakamoto added, 'I'm more of a Nissan man.'

'Nobody is perfect,' Yoshida said lightly and, instead of offending Sakamoto as Bunta feared, this comment seemed to amuse his future team manager for he let out a very loud chuckle.

'You know,' Sakamoto said, 'I think I'm going to like working with you two.'

Only when Bunta was seated behind the wheel of his beloved car, with Yoshida by his side and with the two of them following the shiny red, brand new Nissan driven by Sakamoto, he felt safe enough to ask the two questions he'd been dying to ask him.

'What do you think of Sakamoto-san?'

'It's too soon to tell,' Yoshida replied, 'but I think he's every bit as professional as I hoped he'd be.'

'Do you think I'm making a mistake with this whole deal?' Bunta then asked.

'No,' Yoshida said, 'anything which will give you racing experience is never a mistake. Besides, it's just for a few races, if you don't like it you've got a very easy way out.'

'What if I do like it?' Bunta dared to ask.

'Well,' Yoshida replied, 'we'll have to see what to do then.'

'I'm sorry,' Bunta said.

'What for?'

'You're being exceedingly nice about this; I don't think I should push my luck any further.'

'Bunta,' Yoshida said, 'it might have escaped your attention but, I'm here out of my free will. I'm also here to give you some advice and here's the first piece of it: you must never ever feel compelled to be somewhere or do something unless it's what you want to do or where you want to be.'

'Got it,' Bunta said, offering Yoshida his cheekiest grin.

'Good,' Yoshida said. The two of them remained in silence till they saw Sakamoto's Nissan taking a left-hand turn which led them inside a test track. On the track Bunta saw what looked to be a newly built Nissan GT-R very much like the one he was used to driving for the PD3. He was about to comment on the bright yellow paint when he heard Yoshida say, 'oh no.'

'What?' Bunta asked.

Yoshida just pointed at a car, a silver Mercedes which was only too familiar to Bunta.

'What's Itachi-san doing in here?' Bunta asked.

'No idea,' Yoshida replied and then, pointing at the red Nissan, he added, 'but I bet Sakamoto isn't too impressed to see him here either.'

Yoshida was right; Sakamoto looked more than a bit annoyed when he and Bunta joined the team manager who was already talking to Itachi-san, using a much less friendly tone than the one they had heard from him back in his office:

'...Itachi, I thought we had agreed you shouldn't be here.'

'Oh come on,' Itachi-san said, 'I'm just…'

He never finished the sentence for, right in that moment he noticed Bunta and, more importantly, Yoshida.

'What's he doing in here?' Itachi-san demanded.

'He's my…' Bunta started.

'…advisor,' Sakamoto interrupted, 'as such, he's got the right to be here. Now, I know we're friends and that your company has its sticker on my car but, right now, I'd like to have the peace I need to decide whether your replacement suits my team's needs or not.'

'Oh,' Itachi-san exclaimed, 'since when have I ever been a bother?'

Sakamoto just gave Itachi-san a look as though as he was pondering whether to give an honest reply to that question or not. Ultimately, he seemed to opt for the latter and, glancing at a couple of men who had been standing nearby, he said:

'I take the car's ready?'

'Yes, it is,' one of the men said, 'we've just finished setting it up.'

'Good,' Sakamoto said, he then looked at Bunta and said, 'do you need any prepping or can you just hop in and show me what you can do with the car?'

Bunta flicked his eyes towards Yoshida just to double check, he then returned his gaze to Sakamoto and, looking very serious, he said:

'I think I'll just get on with it, if you don't mind.'

'Nope,' Sakamoto replied, 'I'm a bit short of time so I'd just like you to do a few laps and, hopefully, I'll be impressed enough to finish the test in about half an hour.'

'I'll do my best,' Bunta promised and, with this, he just followed the man who had spoken earlier towards the car. He didn't really need a racing suit to drive fast after all. Less than fifteen minutes later, he found that he was happy to be wearing his light shirt and linen trousers for it was rather hot inside the car, as if they hadn't got the cockpit's ventilation right. Maybe out of the habit he'd developed while working for both Yoshida and the people from PD3, he started compiling a list of things which could be improved.

Half an hour later, he stopped the car and noticed at once three things:

Sakamoto and his two men were staring at the stopwatch as though as they couldn't believe their eyes; Yoshida was smiling at Bunta proudly while Itachi-san was no longer there.

'Where did Itachi-san go?' Bunta asked Yoshida.

'He said he had some business to tend to,' the older man replied. Bunta was about to ask about his times when Sakamoto placed both of his hands on top of Bunta's shoulders and said:

'Boy, I have no idea where Itachi kept you hidden all this time but, if this is how you usually drive, I can't wait to see you in a proper race.'

'I take I've passed the test then,' Bunta ventured.

'Passed?' Sakamoto asked incredulous, 'Fujiwara, you better not make any plans for the next two weeks: I want you to be ready for your JTCC debut!'

Bunta was too happy to remind himself that he needed to discuss certain arrangements with Sakamoto-san, such as, for instance, the fact that he'd need to drive up and down Mt Akina every morning. Something told him that Sakamoto wouldn't have too much trouble doing some concessions and, for the first time, Bunta thought that his life was back where he liked it: right under his control.

_To be continued…_


	58. Chapter Fifty Seven

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty Seven_

Just two months after his meeting with Sakamoto, Bunta was parking his uncle's Bellett GT outside the shop knowing that he'd just broken his own record, completing the delivery in such a short time that Eikichi had barely started doing any of the chores the old man still insisted on doing himself.

'You're back already?' Eikichi asked sounding genuinely surprised.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied trying not to sound smug, 'there was no traffic,' he then uselessly added.

'Bunta,' Eikichi said placing his hands onto his hips, 'it's half past four in the morning, of course there's _no traffic_.'

'Hey…'

'Listen,' Eikichi snapped at him, 'I don't care if you drive like a maniac with your own car but tonight you were driving mine. Just be careful, ok?'

'I _am_ careful,' Bunta defended himself.

'Yeah, right,' Eikichi said with a large dose of disbelief.

'Anyway,' an increasingly worried Bunta said, 'you need to go and get some rest. I'll take care of the cleaning.'

'When exactly did you decide you were the boss?' Eikichi asked grumpily then, without giving his nephew time to reply, he continued, 'and it's _you _who should get some rest, aren't you supposed to meet up with the team in less than two hours?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied as calmly as he could, 'which is precisely the reason why I shouldn't go to bed. I mean, what's the point?'

'The point,' Eikichi countered, 'is that you need as much sleep as you can get if you…'

'Uncle Eikichi,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I appreciate your concern, I really do. But seriously, I'm fine. I'll be even better if you go to bed and let me take care of the shop, okay?'

Eikichi seemed to consider his options for a short while then, seeing that he wasn't going to win this argument, he decided to let it go and, even if he would never say it out loud, he _was _tired. Maybe that was the reason why he was so moody in the first place.

'Okay,' he finally said, 'but wake me up before you leave.'

'Sure,' Bunta agreed.

As soon as he finished the work at the shop, he took a quick shower, got the small bag with the stuff he needed for the race and, knocking on Eikichi's door, he said:

'Hey, I'm leaving.'

He waited to hear any tell-tale signs that his uncle was awake but, hearing none, he opened the door a little.

'Uncle,' he called out, 'are you awake?'

'Yeah,' Eikichi replied sleepily.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'I'm going now, do you want me to bring you anything before I do?'

'No,' Eikichi replied, 'I'll go downstairs in a second.'

'Good,' Bunta said. He then turned round and padded his way to the house's entrance. There, he put his shoes on and walked across the shop. He was onboard his Toyota very soon after that and turned its powerful engine on before he could give himself time to get even more worried about his uncle's unusual behaviour.

Half an hour later he arrived at the meeting point, a small family restaurant just off the motorway which led to Shizuoka. Since the restaurant was closed, Bunta saw that, excepting the van and the small truck belonging to the Sakamoto Team, the car park was void of other vehicles.

In the van there were the tyres, spare parts and other apparel needed for the race while the truck carried the pride and joy of the team: the third evolution of the Nissan Fairlady Z which was currently covered by a piece of dark grey linen to protect it during the two-hour long trip to the Fuji Speedway. Standing next to the two vehicles, Bunta saw four of the five members of the team.

'Good morning,' he said to them the second he stepped out of his car.

'Hey kid,' one of them said, 'it's cold today, isn't it?'

'Matsuda-san,' Bunta replied, 'it's September and it's only six thirty.'

'True,' Matsuda agreed, 'so, now you're here, we should get going.'

'What about Sakamoto-san?' Bunta asked.

'He'll join us at Fuji,' Matsuda explained, 'he's coming with a couple of potential sponsors.'

'Ah, I see,' Bunta said. Since Yoshida would also join them at the circuit, they were ready to go so Matsuda, pointing at the van with his head, told Bunta to hop on. The other three mechanics were already climbing onto the truck, after triple-checking that the car was properly secured.

Bunta also made sure his 2000GT was locked before sitting next to Matsuda.

'Get some sleep, you'll need it,' the older man ordered. That made Bunta let out a chuckle which, in turn, made Matsuda ask, 'what's so funny?'

'Nothing,' Bunta replied quickly. He was only in his third race with the team but he had already learned that Matsuda, while being a brilliant mechanic, was not a man one could easily joke with. For this reason, Bunta decided to cross his arms onto his chest and lean his head against the van's window.

Exactly two hours after Matsuda woke him up with a gentle tap on his shoulder.

'Eh?' Bunta mumbled sleepily. He could not believe he had actually fallen asleep!

'We're almost there,' Matsuda said then, pointing at a thermos he had on top of the van's dashboard, he said, 'help yourself…'

'What is it?' Bunta asked taking the container.

'Coffee,' Matsuda replied, 'my wife made it for me but I don't like it.'

'Oh,' Bunta said stopping half way through unscrewing the thermos' top.

'It's good coffee,' Matsuda reassured him, 'it's just that I don't like the stuff.'

'Ah, okay,' Bunta said, 'in that case…'

He proceeded to pour some of the dark, still hot liquid into the small plastic cup and, without letting it cool a little first, he took a tentative sip. It was excellent coffee, just as strong as he liked it, for this reason he downed the whole thing in one single go.

'This is exactly what I needed,' Bunta said smiling at the older man, 'you have no idea of what you're missing!' he exclaimed then, seeing that Matsuda didn't say anything, he tried again, 'if you don't like it, why does your wife make it for you?'

'You don't know her,' Matsuda replied, 'even if I said that I don't want it, she'd still make it. Besides, I think she'd get upset if I told her that I never drink it so it's easier if I just take the thing and make sure it's empty before I get back home.'

'Good strategy,' Bunta commented.

'I'm glad you think so,' Matsuda said, 'speaking of which, we've done all the modifications you asked us and Sakamoto-san wants to discuss the new set of tactics we'll use for this race.'

'Okay,' Bunta said.

'I must say,' Matsuda continued, 'that the L28 has never sounded better. It's also been tuned up to nearly two hundred hp but you'll need to be careful…'

'I know,' Bunta interrupted, 'don't worry'.

'I also got the guys to change the brake pads,' Matsuda informed him, 'we'll work on the suspension after you've taken the car out for a few laps, okay?'

'Sure,' Bunta replied distractedly. His attention was now focused on the circuit's main entrance. There, he saw a large number of trucks and vans belonging to the other racing teams which would take part on this race. There was one particular truck, painted in black and orange, which belonged to the current JTCC champion.

Yamazaki Tetsu, a hardened racer in his mid thirties, drove a 1975 Mazda RX3. Everyone knew that the RX3 had become Nissan's sworn rival after the Mazda had stopped their winning streak and in the current season, it had already won an absurd number of races. That made Yamazaki the man to beat and Bunta hoped that in this race he would finally get the chance to battle him.

'So many people…' he heard Matsuda say.

'Isn't that normal for JTCC?' Bunta asked.

'Not really,' Matsuda replied, 'I think it's got to do with the upcoming F1 race.'

'That's right,' Bunta said, 'isn't it in about a month from now?'

'October 24th,' Matsuda confirmed, 'it's got the locals very excited and a few enthusiasts too. I think that's the reason why we're going to be getting more public than usual. I hope you'll be okay with that.'

'Why shouldn't I be?' Bunta asked sounding confused.

'Well,' Matsuda replied, 'no reason. Except that this is a fairly large track and…'

'I'll be okay,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I raced here for the Freshman Series and it's not like I can see the people from the public when I'm driving, can I?'

'No, you probably can't,' Matsuda said, 'you know, don't tell anybody I said this but I like you better than that Takashi brat.'

Bunta gave the older man a worried look.

'Don't look at me like that,' Matsuda said defensively, 'I'm just saying what I think. Ever since you joined the team, we've managed to make the car work so much better and that fifth place you got us in the last race has impressed Sakamoto-san so much that…'

'Please stop there,' Bunta interrupted him brusquely, 'it's embarrassing,' he added, trying to justify himself.

'Okay, okay,' Matsuda said, 'just know this: keep it up and I don't think Sakamoto-san will let you go at the end of the season.'

Now, that was something Bunta didn't want to hear. Not only because it messed up with his and Yoshida's plans but also because as much as he hated the whole Itachi family, he didn't want to steal Takashi's racing seat while the poor guy was literally trying to get back on his feet as fast as possible.

As a racer, and as a human being, that was the worst sort of thing to do to a fellow racer.

The team's arrival at their designated parking space cut Bunta's thoughts short. It had been a while since the last time he'd been at the Fuji Speedway and, back then, they had been in the middle of the circuit's renovation. The paddock was much lager than it had been and, right now, was full of trucks, vans, all sorts of cars and a huge amount of people.

Among them, he was happy to see that Yoshida and Sakamoto were already there talking to a couple of old men, the sponsors, Bunta decided judging by the expensive, western style suits they wore. He found it weird to see Yoshida and Sakamoto merrily chatting together, as though as they had been friends for a long time.

'Oh, here he is!' Sakamoto exclaimed seeing Bunta climb out of the van.

'Good morning,' Bunta said politely.

'How are you?' Yoshida asked him.

'Just as usual,' a grinning Bunta replied. Then, one of the sponsors, a short, thin man with a wispy mat of white hair turned towards him and, smiling in a grandfatherly kind of way, he said:

'Young man, I hope you'll give us a good race! I cancelled a couple of very important meetings to be here today.'

'Thank you, sir,' Bunta said with a quick bow, 'I'll do my very best.'

Sakamoto smiled widely and said:

'We'll see some crazy driving then.'

Bunta scratched his cheek and smiled again. He would never get used to that side of competitive racing. All he knew was that once he got in the car, it was only he and the machine, nothing else mattered. He was very lucky that Yoshida was proving to be a very good advisor who helped him maintain the peace of mind he needed in order to focus solely on his driving.

'We better go and get things ready,' Matsuda said and, as on cue, the other three mechanics surrounded the truck so that they could unload the car. Bunta observed the operation almost wishing he could give them a hand. Again, he knew that Sakamoto had very strict rules regarding the role each one of them covered and had already warned Bunta against doing any of the mechanics' work.

For this reason, while Matsuda and his guys worked on setting up the pitbox, Bunta did his best to make small talk with the potential sponsors, something which earned the approval of both Yoshida and Sakamoto.

'You're getting quite good at this,' Yoshida commented sometime later while Bunta, half-hiding inside the van, started to wrestle his way into his new racing suit, 'in fact,' the older man continued, 'soon I don't think you'll need me to be here.'

'Don't even joke about that!' Bunta hurried to say, 'most of the time, I'm not even sure I know what I'm talking about.'

'Bunta,' Yoshida said, 'I'll let you in a little secret: most people here don't have a clue what they're saying. It's just that some of them are very good at pretending they do.'

That made Bunta laugh out loud and that's how Matsuda found him.

'You sure are in good spirits today,' the mechanic said with his usual deadpan voice then, before neither Bunta nor Yoshida could say anything, he added, 'the car's ready for the first go and the marshals will open the track in ten minutes.'

'I'm nearly ready,' Bunta said fastening the straps of his racing suit as quickly as he could. The garment was a little baggy but Bunta preferred it that way: he seriously didn't understand how some of the racers he'd seen around the paddock could breathe with such tight suits, let alone drive.

Three minutes later, they joined the rest of the team in the pitbox assigned to the Sakamoto Team and since Bunta didn't want to waste time, he climbed into the car straight away. The seat was nearly as low as the one he had in his 2000GT which wasn't surprising given that the body of both cars was very similar. The main difference was that the Fairlady Z, as one would expect from a true racing machine, was practically empty inside.

Other than the bucket seat and a couple of stabilising bars, there was very little else. Even the dashboard was devoid of any unnecessary apparel: just the padded steering wheel and three dials which measured the speed, the revs per minute and the temperature of both oil and water.

Bunta took a couple more minutes to fasten his helmet and the four-point seatbelt regulating it as to make sure he still had plenty of room to move. While he did that, he noticed that a number of people were looking at him, the team's mechanics were doing their best to keep curious bystanders away from the car but Bunta knew that it was inevitable to have them there.

If anything, it made him feel rather good to see that the amount of people who surrounded his car kept on increasing and now, it was fairly close to the mass of fans who observed Yamazaki while the older racer climbed into his RX3.

Very shortly after that, Bunta turned the engine on and waited until everybody cleared the way so that he could, slowly, drive the car out to the pitlane. Since this was just the first session, there was no pre-established order but, still, he wanted to be as close as possible to the RX3 which, predictably, was first on the line.

Then they waited for the marshals to open the pitlane and Bunta started doing the breathing exercises he usually did before every race. He knew his concentration level was high enough when he stopped hearing anything other than the engine under the bonnet. He then tightened his right fist around the steering wheel and his left one on top of the gear stick.

The green light made every one of the thirty-odd cars move forward at the same time and a few instants later, Bunta found himself following a light grey Nissan GT-R. The car itself wasn't new like Bunta's Fairlady Z but it had been just as heavily modified and it was horribly fast too.

With his racer's instincts kicking in, Bunta found it difficult to concentrate on what he had to do: just checking that the modifications he asked worked the way he expected them to and taking note of how the car behaved in each of the many corners which made up the over four kilometres long circuit.

He also started trying different lines, sometimes copying what the driver ahead of him did so that he could find the best possible course for the Z. Soon though, some of the cars started making their way back to the pitlane so, in his final lap out, Bunta saw that the RX3 was just ahead of him.

Pushing the car a little, he came as close as half a metre from the black and orange Mazda. He didn't want to challenge Yamazaki, it was more a question of curiosity, to see what the older racer did with his car. Bunta noticed with immense self-satisfaction that the Yamazaki dealt with a good number of corners in the same way he did. Not only that but keeping up with the RX3 wasn't as impossible as many believed.

That made him smirk.

He continued following the RX3 for a short while when, all of a sudden, the Mazda pulled towards the outside of the track, opening up the way. During a couple of awfully long seconds, Bunta was unsure of what to do then, deciding that this time Yamazaki _was_ challenging him, he overtook the RX3.

He floored it the rest of the lap, making sure his driving was as kamikaze-like as when he drove downhill in Akina because Bunta knew exactly what Yamazaki was after: he wanted to see what Bunta's driving was like and Bunta would be damned if he gave the older driver that satisfaction.

Shortly after, the two cars made their way back into the pitlane. There, the instant he got out of his car, Yamazaki walked towards the Sakamoto Team's pitbox and, talking to Bunta, he said:

'Please tell me that's not how you're planning on driving during the race.'

Bunta took his time removing his helmet before he replied:

'Why are you asking?'

'No reason,' Yamazaki said, 'but if the answer is yes, then God help whoever gets too close to your car.'

Bunta observed the racer's worried expression. He then noticed that this concerned was mirrored on everyone there. Shaking his head slowly, he smiled at Yamazaki and said:

'No, that's not how I want to drive during the race.'

'Then,' a visibly more relaxed Yamazaki said, 'why did you do it?'

'Because I thought it would be fun,' Bunta replied with a grin, 'also, I didn't want to give you any hints. It's not like you need them anyway.'

Yamazaki burst out laughing.

'You're unbelievable, you know that?'

'Yeah well,' Bunta said scratching his cheek.

'But you did get some hints from me, didn't you?' Yamazaki asked, still looking amused.

'More than just hints,' Bunta replied honestly, 'what I got was a confirmation.'

'Confirmation of what?' Yamazaki asked, now he seemed confused.

'That the lines I've chosen are among the best for the new layout of the track,' Bunta replied, then something made him add, 'but there are even better ones, aren't there?'

Once again, Yamazaki chuckled and, running a hand onto his short black hair, he smiled at Bunta and asked:

'Where on Earth have you been all this time?'

Then, before Bunta could reply, the older racer left the Sakamoto Team's pitbox followed by what seemed to be a horde of groupies. Only then Bunta saw that the mechanics were staring at him in awe, Matsuda had his usual inexpressive face on but it was Yoshida's amused and Sakamoto's impressed faces which made him smile.

'Didn't I say it?' Sakamoto said talking to the two potential sponsors.

'Yes,' the old man with wispy hair said, 'this race is definitely going to be fun.'

Sakamoto and his guests left the pitbox a few moments later so that Matsuda could listen to what Bunta had to say so that they could finish preparing the car for the qualifying session. Meanwhile, and seeing as it was nearly lunchtime, Yoshida told Bunta that he was going to meet up with some people he knew.

'I'll probably watch the qualifying with them,' Yoshida said, 'I hope you don't mind…'

'Of course not,' Bunta replied, 'you don't need to baby-sit me, you know?'

'I wouldn't be so sure,' Yoshida half-joked.

'Ha-ha,' Bunta laughed sarcastically, 'very funny.'

Yoshida placed two fingers on his temple and saluted Bunta before he walked away from the pitbox too. Bunta then concentrated his energies on trying to see what the mechanics did to the car, hoping he'd learn something new and damning Sakamoto for not letting him do any of the work himself.

An hour later, with the car in pristine order and with Sakamoto and his guests back from the walk around the paddock, Bunta started, once again, getting ready to climb into the Fairlady Z. He knew that this time everyone would be in serious-mode in their attempt to get as close as possible to Yamazaki's Mazda.

Just as it had happened the first time, everyone lined up at the pitlane and, a few moments later, Bunta was back on the track for the first of the two or three laps he could do before they would start timing him. He was almost happy that the RX3 was way ahead of him so that he would have no distractions.

Soon Bunta started really pushing the car, making it cut the corners following impossibly tight paths. He felt the adrenaline rush when he overtook a couple of slower opponents without dropping any of his speed, then he prepared himself to tackle the last turn, a very wide right-hander which led to the kilometre-long straight.

There, Bunta really floored it, happy to see that the L28 was responding to him exactly the way he wanted. The tyres were also perfect and he knew that with the current settings winning this race would not be entirely out of the question.

Not giving himself time to bask on that thought, he concentrated harder and the instant he started the first of his flying laps, his mind was entirely focused on the task of doing his best to clear the track in the shortest time possible.

He took the first left hander at an absurd speed, he then flew his way to the Coca-Cola corner, a wide right hand turn which lead to 100R and to the hairpin which was a lot like the ones in Akina. Then there was another long, slightly curved straight which took him to the Dunlop chicane.

Clearing the two remaining corners, he cruised his way back to the finish line where he prepared himself to repeat the process all over again for as long as it took him to beat Yamazaki's time which had just been announced: predictably enough, the RX3's number was on top of the list.

Forcing himself not to look at the timing board, he continued his laps till, half an hour into the qualifying session, he decided it was time to make it back into the pitlane when, glancing at the small but functional rear-view mirror, he saw a flash of black and orange following him.

Bunta didn't need to turn round to see that it was the RX3 and, this time, it was very obvious that Yamazaki had every intention of following him around the track. Just as he'd done before, Bunta started messing up with his lines but, to his utmost surprise, he saw that Yamazaki was perfectly capable of copying those too.

'What the…' he muttered.

They were cruising towards the Dunlop chicane when Yamazaki closed the gap between the two cars getting so close to the Z's bumper that it effectively made it impossible for Bunta to continue with his haphazard driving style for the risk of a collision would have been unacceptably high.

For this reason alone, Bunta decided to drive properly and, to his astonishment, he noticed that the distance between the two cars remained awfully short both when he cleared the chicane as well as when he tackled the two corners before the finish line.

It was even more worrying to see that Yamazaki seemed to be even more in control of his car than Bunta had ever been, not even with his beloved 2000GT and, for the first time in his life, he felt something he had never ever felt before: the fear of not being good enough.

This made Bunta turn the steering wheel so brusquely that, instead of continuing towards the finish line, he cut into the pitlane. The manoeuvre seemed to take Yamazaki aback but, being the seasoned racer he was, he quickly recovered and with a swift turn, he kept his car right on the Z's tail.

Bunta was so shocked that it was nothing short of a miracle that he managed to get the car into the pitbox and, there, he also missed the way everyone at the box was smiling at him.

'Bunta!' a very happy Yoshida shouted.

He was quickly joined by Sakamoto and the three mechanics. Even Matsuda was smiling.

'What…' Bunta stuttered while he climbed out of the car. He was feeling really confused by it all but, before he could get an explanation from his team, he saw Yamazaki walking towards him. The older guy was also smiling, but it was a different kind of smile.

'Congratulations,' he simply said.

'What?' Bunta repeated, looking at Yoshida for help.

'Bunta,' the Toyota engineer had the goodness to explain, 'you've just got yourself the pole position.'

'Yeah,' Yamazaki said, 'this race is going to be even more interesting than I thought.'

_To be continued…_


	59. Chapter Fifty Eight

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty Eight_

The following morning Bunta woke up at seven o'clock in the morning with the usual disorientation one felt when sleeping somewhere that wasn't home. They were staying in a relatively posh hotel just outside the circuit and, the first thing Bunta did was to grab the phone he had on top of the bedside table.

He quickly dialled the number of the Fujiwara Tofu Shop.

It rang once, twice, thrice; it wasn't until the sixth ring that Eikichi picked up the phone and, with a very sleepy voice, he grunted:

'Bunta, is that you?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'I…'

'I'm fine,' Eikichi said dryly, 'you don't need to check on me every time I'm left in charge of the deliveries.'

'Eikichi…'

'I won't say it again,' his uncle interrupted him, 'I've run this shop on my own for _decades, _I think I know what I'm doing much better than you.'

'I know that,' Bunta said firmly, 'I was just…'

'If you don't have anything else to say, I'm hanging up,' Eikichi said.

'I got the pole yesterday,' Bunta finally announced.

This was followed by a short silence which made him worry even more about the fact that Eikichi's mood had worsened. He was dying to ask his uncle to please tell him what was wrong when Eikichi said:

'That's really good news.'

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'you know that Yamazaki guy I told you about?'

'Yes,' Eikichi replied.

'He's really good.'

'Better than you?' his uncle challenged. Bunta let out a soft chuckle, feeling both amused and relieved to see a glimpse of the usual Eikichi, 'I take that as a no,' the older man continued.

'I don't know,' Bunta replied honestly, 'but I'll soon find out.'

'I'd wish you good luck for this race but, you're a Fujiwara.'

'And we don't need luck, correct?'

'Exactly,' Eikichi confirmed.

'Uncle Eikichi…' Bunta started.

'Don't,' Eikichi interrupted, 'I'm fine, don't worry about me and focus on the race, ok?'

Without waiting for a reply, Eikichi hung up the phone on Bunta who was left there, sitting on top of the western style bed, staring at the phone's receiver. Damn his uncle!

'Don't worry about me, he says,' Bunta muttered to himself.

He dropped the receiver onto the cradle and, getting up, he padded towards the shower so he could get dressed and join the others for a quick breakfast. He only hoped that he would manage to push his worry to the back of his head sometime before the start of the race.

At exactly twenty minutes to nine, Bunta placed his car in the first position at the starting grid. He was quickly followed by Yamazaki's RX3 and the rest of the thirty cars which had managed to qualify for the first round of the two they would race today.

'Hey kid,' he heard Matsuda's voice through the thin, transparent plastic which replaced the original glass.

Bunta looked up.

'Just drive the way you usually do,' Matsuda continued, 'don't get nervous.'

That made Bunta want to laugh hysterically but, remembering that he was a professional, he just nodded and taking his right hand off the steering wheel, he gave Matsuda a thumbs up, he then said:

'I'm okay.'

In reality, that was a big fat lie for Bunta, right now, was anything but okay. He was nervous _and_ worried and not only because of the race. He seriously hoped that he had fully digested what he had eaten for breakfast and forced himself to relax while he made sure he didn't look anywhere but at the black steering wheel then, using the breathing exercises he had perfected over the years, he started his pre-race ritual.

With only three minutes to go, the mechanics started clearing the grid so that the race could start. Matsuda quickly made his way to the pitbox where he found the rest of the team plus Yoshida. Thankfully the two potential sponsors had gone to watch the race from the area reserved to them.

'How is he doing?' the Toyota engineer asked.

'He says he's okay,' Matsuda replied.

'He must be nervous,' Sakamoto decided, 'I know _I _am,' he then added.

'I don't blame you,' Yoshida commented. He was slightly anxious too, he knew Bunta was an extremely skilled driver but this was the first time he was in pole position at a professional racing event and, to top that, he had the current JTCC champion right next to him.

'He'll be fine,' Matsuda said, surprising everyone.

No one had the chance to say anything to that for, right at that moment, the cars were given the green light so that they could start the warm up lap. Bunta made the Fairlady Z go forward and, during one brief spell of madness, he feared the engine would stall.

'Don't be stupid,' he admonished himself.

Just over a minute later, they were back on their positions and then, very shortly after that, Bunta kept an eye on the overhead lights while he checked the rear view mirror inside the car to see if the marshal had the green flag up.

He did.

Ten seconds later, the whole grid was a gigantic roar and Bunta didn't have the time to do anything else other than to push his car forward, doing his very best to keep the black/orange RX3 behind. This proved to be a lot easier than he'd expected.

But something was wrong.

Bunta's racer instincts told him that Yamazaki had let him get ahead of him and that was a most unnerving feeling. Instead of panicking, Bunta decided to forget about the older guy and focus his energies on the first turn of the track.

He cleared that just as quickly as he'd done in the numerous laps he'd covered during the practice and qualifying sessions and readied himself to do the same with the successive ones.

The situation remained pretty much unchanged until the tenth lap. Bunta was approaching the Dunlop chicane in fourth gear going at more than one hundred and ninety kilometres an hour when he saw a speck of black out of the corner of his eye.

What happened next was absurdly fast:

Yamazaki, with humiliating ease, levelled with Bunta at the start of the chicane. He then took an impossibly short while still very much legal line and, by the end of it, the RX3 was half a meter ahead of the Fairlady Z.

'What the…'

Bunta never had time to finish the sentence for, at that precise instant, he realised that, not only Yamazaki had overtaken him in a very embarrassing way but, since he no longer kept the other cars bottled up behind him, Bunta was now being attacked by a gold-painted Mitsubishi GSR.

Having his hands full with defending himself, Bunta could not even think of trying to catch up with Yamazaki and, right then, Bunta reminded himself of the importance of being patient. He needed to be as calm as possible so that he could come up with a winning strategy.

With just seven laps to go Bunta had finally managed to put a decent enough distance between his Nissan and the Mitsubishi, he had also been lucky that the GSR's driver was also trying to prevent the light grey GT-R from overtaking him but it didn't matter.

For the first time since lap eleven, Bunta had the peace of mind to start pursuing the RX3 which was now several seconds ahead of his Nissan. It was time for some desperate measures so Bunta started using some of the lines Yamazaki had _kindly suggested _during the qualifying session.

Surprisingly enough, that made Bunta cut a handful of seconds per lap and three laps before the end of the race, he had the front of his car stuck to the RX3's rear bumper and the two of them were quickly approaching the Dunlop chicane.

It was now or never, Bunta thought.

Doing exactly the same kind of manoeuvre Yamazaki had used to overtake him, Bunta placed his car right next to the RX3. He then tried to follow the same crazy line the older racer had followed before when, all of a sudden, Yamazaki cut across, literally pushing Bunta out of the track.

It was sheer dumb luck which allowed Bunta to regain the tarmac but, by then, Yamazaki had once again gone out of reach. Bunta ignored the frustration which was slowly making him anxious and, raising his level of concentration, he managed to catch up with the RX3 only half a lap later.

Instead of waiting for the chicane, Bunta decided to use one of the two wide turns of the circuit to try something different; this time, he stuck the front of the car to the RX3, the two cars got to the start of the corner and then Bunta first veered towards the inside, only to change direction half way through.

Then, once his car was level once again with the RX3, instead of overtaking him as Yamazaki probably expected him to do, Bunta forced him out of the ideal line continuing like that till the start of the chicane, there, he pushed the RX3 further giving Yamazaki no option but to let him pass.

Knowing better than to relax, Bunta steeled himself so that he'd be ready when Yamazaki would attack him again. They only had one more lap to go but that gave the older racer plenty of chances to overtake him.

The first of these attacks happened right at the beginning of the straight. There, Yamazaki pushed his RX3 beyond anything he'd done before but Bunta, who was ready for it, had also reserved some speed and that allowed him to stay ahead.

Predictably, Yamazaki didn't give up and tried once again even before making it to the first corner. Bunta was getting very tired of this but kept on forcing himself to remain calm.

This tactic paid off for, each of the times his opponent tried to pass him, Bunta found himself prepared. He knew though that the major danger laid right ahead and, in fact, the moment they made it to the chicane, Bunta saw that the RX3 was no longer behind him.

'Not again!' he said out loud while, in his head, the thought which formed was that there was no way he'd get pawned in the same way again. For this reason, Bunta cut the line he knew Yamazaki was about to take effectively forcing the Mazda to draw back.

Bunta was so concentrated on that that he failed to see what, in hindsight, Yamazaki had probably noticed: the gold-painted Mitsubishi was right ahead of them, spinning out of control.

Only his quick reflexes and an awesomely performed drift made him able to veer past the GSR. Unfortunately for Bunta, that also opened the way for Yamazaki to overtake him just as easily as he'd done before.

A few hundred meters later, it was all over; Yamazaki crossed the line first and Bunta was left with the bitter taste of making it only second. If it hadn't been for that bloody Mitsubishi…

'No,' Bunta said out loud. The Mitsubishi had nothing to do with it. He had not paid attention to what was ahead of him and that had made him lose the race. Yamazaki, just as he thought, was just better.

With a heavy heart, he made his way back to the pitlane so that Matsuda and the guys could prepare the car for the second round. Bunta was ashamed to feel grateful to the rule which reversed the starting grid for the drivers which had placed themselves in the top-ten.

'Well done!' Yoshida said the instant Bunta climbed out of the car.

'Second place!' Sakamoto exclaimed, 'that's…that's the best result we've had so far!'

'What's up with you kid?' Matsuda asked him. It was almost funny that only the stony-faced mechanic seemed to have noticed Bunta's less-than-pleased expression.

'Hey,' Yoshida started, 'you did really well, considering who you were racing against!'

'Not well enough,' Bunta finally spoke.

'Fujiwara,' Sakamoto said, 'Yamazaki _is_ the best. I don't think I remember the last time I saw someone overtaking him during a race.'

'Yeah right,' Bunta said sceptically, 'it's not like it was of much use, was it?'

'Don't be so hard on yourself,' Matsuda insisted.

'I have to be,' Bunta countered, 'or I'll never beat him.'

'Forget it,' Yoshida said, this time speaking to everyone but Bunta, 'that's the way he is and, if I'm not mistaken,' he added, this time addressing Bunta, 'you're already thinking of a way to win the second round.'

'Of course,' Bunta replied.

'That's the spirit!' Sakamoto said slapping Bunta's back, 'now, you go and get some rest while the guys work, okay?'

It wasn't a suggestion so Bunta, followed by Yoshida, walked out of the pitbox and towards the van so that he could lock himself inside it and rest a little. His head was a little bit sore because of the huge amount of concentration so, being somewhere quiet was exactly what he needed.

'Bunta,' Yoshida said, 'I know you don't want to hear this…'

'Then don't say it,' Bunta said lightly enough so that the older man would not take offence.

'That Yamazaki really _is _good,' Yoshida commented nonetheless, 'but I don't think he's invincible.'

'I know that,' Bunta said.

'And neither is his car,' Yoshida continued. That got Bunta's attention.

'What do you mean?'

'I'm not entirely sure about this,' Yoshida replied, 'but I think that Yamazaki has a little trouble keeping the car steady when the engine goes past a certain amount of revs per minute. It's not something huge but I think you can find a way to use it to your own advantage.'

'Yoshida-san,' Bunta said, 'I already knew that but, you truly are scary, you know that?'

'Look who's talking!' Yoshida laughed.

Bunta had the decency to look a little embarrassed.

'Go and get some rest,' Yoshida then said, 'I'll just take a walk around the paddock.'

Half an hour later, a fully rested Bunta walked back to the pitbox where Matsuda had just finished refuelling the car. Bunta noticed that, asides from a fresh set of tyres, the rest of the car had been left untouched.

'There wasn't anything wrong with it, was there?' Matsuda asked him.

'No,' Bunta confirmed, 'it was perfect.'

'I'm glad to hear that,' Matsuda replied and his mouth twitched upwards. Bunta sworn that it was the first time he'd seen the mechanic so close to showing a proper smile. The thought made _him _grin.

'It's nearly time,' Sakamoto said, 'Fujiwara, I know that you said you want to beat Yamazaki but, seriously, I would be happy enough if you got us on the podium.'

Bunta raised his eyebrows in disbelief but forced himself to nod. He then took his helmet, put it on and climbed into the car where he worked with the seatbelt. Very soon after that, he rolled the car towards the pitlane.

'Yoshida-san,' Sakamoto said observing his Nissan, 'why do I have the feeling Fujiwara was just humouring me?'

'Because he was,' Yoshida replied, 'you were ordering to take it easy to someone who doesn't have the concept registered in his dictionary.'

Sakamoto smiled and the gesture made him look even more like a movie star. He then shook his head and, placing his hand on top of Yoshida's left shoulder, he said:

'Can I be frank?'

'Of course,' Yoshida replied.

'I know you'll hate me for this,' Sakamoto said, 'but I have every intention of offering Bunta a racing seat for the next season.'

'Saka…'

'He's got such raw potential that no sane team manager would let him go,' the team manager interrupted him, 'and no one is saner than I am.'

With this, Sakamoto removed his hand and, walking outside the pitbox, he made his way to the section of the wall reserved to his team. Yoshida quickly joined him so that they could observe the operations before the start of the second round.

He never voiced his thoughts but, Yoshida really hoped that Bunta's resolution to switch to rallying would not waver. After all, he too had seen that raw potential and the Toyota engineer knew that Bunta was much better suited to real roads, rather than circuit racing.

Unaware of the smile-armed war which was going on between Yoshida and Sakamoto, Bunta was already preparing himself for the race. He saw that, once again, the RX3 was right next to him but, unlike during the first heat, he now had eight cars in front of him.

He knew that the one holding the pole was the light grey Nissan. He then turned round to see if he spotted the gold-painted Mitsubishi. Happily for Bunta, the GRS was right at the bottom of the grid. If anything, he hoped that the car would not get in his way again.

Three minutes later, Matsuda and the guys left with the rest of the other team's technical staff. Bunta then started the car's engine and kept an eye on the starting lights. When they turned green, he followed the eighth placed car around the circuit. He noticed that this time the formation lap took a lot longer than when he'd been leading it.

It meant that the cars ahead were slower, much slower.

Bunta allowed himself a small smile while his brain started coming up with several ways to get rid of them so that he could get back in first place. He also knew that, while the cars ahead were certainly annoying, the one he had to worry about the most was right behind him.

'I'll win,' Bunta muttered to himself, 'this time, I'll win for sure.'

With that thought he stopped at the slot number nine of the grid and patiently wait for everyone to be ready. Once again, he checked that the marshal gave the all-clear before returning his attention to the overhead lights.

An instant later, the grid exploded with the noise of furious sounding engines then, all of a sudden, the twenty seven cars which took part on the second round took off at a staggering speed. Bunta quickly overtook not one, but two cars, noticing with immense displeasure that Yamazaki was stuck to the Z's rear bumper.

That was exactly what Bunta had expected.

Looking right at the first corner after the long straight, Bunta saw something which made him smile: the two cars which were currently fighting for fifth place had left a very narrow space to their right. It was a very risky manoeuvre but Bunta took the chance.

He pushed his car towards that direction when something weird happened.

Instead of following him, Yamazaki did something even crazier than what Bunta was about to do. The RX3, first overtook Bunta's Nissan, then pushed its way _between _the two other cars. Somehow, they opened the way for Yamazaki thus allowing him to pass through relatively easily.

Not wanting to give up so early on in the race, Bunta really floored it and, taking the inside of the corner with half a car outside the track, he performed a half drift which propelled him forwards and across the track.

The manoeuvre, although not fully intentional, produced a very good result: he had somehow managed to overtake the two battling cars while levelling with the RX3 at the same time then, instead of overtaking Yamazaki, he decided to let him go.

He could not explain it the reason why he did that.

Something told him that, right now, it was the wise thing to do and, for the following laps, he limited himself to stick the front of his car to the Mazda's rear bumper. He remembered what Yoshida had told him so, during the whole time he was behind Yamazaki, he observed the car's behaviour as carefully as he could.

As it turned out, being right behind the RX3 allowed Bunta to, not only overtake the three cars they still had ahead of them, but also to use up the aerodynamic advantage which the car behind had and, at lap fourteen out of twenty five, Bunta finally decided to test a few of the ideas he'd come up with.

Leaving the Dunlop chicane behind, Bunta waited for the second of the two corners which ended the track. These two turns were a lot wider than the chicane and he'd seen that Yamazaki revved up the RX3 in preparation for the long straight.

It also looked like he did lose some of the god-perfect control the guy had over his car. Yoshida was right, it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

Right at the moment when the two cars exited the corner, Bunta forced his way towards the inside. He knew that there was no way for both of them to make it out of the turn that way but, he was counting on what happened next.

Yamazaki's RX3 seemed to lose traction for a fraction of a second and that forced the older racer to open up his course. For Bunta it was just a walk in the park to continue on to the straight, finally claiming first position.

'Yes!' he allowed himself to exclaim.

Just as he had predicted, Yamazaki tried to catch up with him the instant he got his car under his control but, by then, Bunta had already put some distance between them. In all honesty, Bunta almost felt disappointed that it had been so easy.

Yet again, he knew from own experience that the worst part was yet to come.

In fact, Yamazaki only needed half a lap to get right where he wanted to be: stuck to the Nissan's rear bumper. Bunta spent seven interminable laps defending himself from countless attacks. Bunta had to admit that he'd never encountered someone as insistent as Yamazaki.

With only four laps to the end of the race, Bunta decided that what he needed now was a breather. He had planned on finishing the race with a series of flying laps when, clearing the circuit's first corner, a sharp right hander, he found himself immersed in hell.

There, right in front of him, four different cars had just crashed against each other.

Bunta really did his best to do an evasive manoeuvre but it wasn't fast enough. One of the cars, an out of control white and yellow Subaru flew towards Bunta's Z. He only managed to avoid the collision because he got the entire car outside the track and onto the grass.

While fighting with the steering wheel so that he could leave that mayhem behind and go back to the track, he saw that Yamazaki had fared much better and was now first and way ahead of him. That sight made him so frustrated that he could have cried.

Instead, Bunta pushed the car so that he could use the three laps they had left to catch up with the Mazda and, to his credit, the two cars cut the finish line stuck to each other. Unfortunately, Yamazaki had beaten him again.

'Shit!' Bunta barked using all of his self-control not to hit the steering wheel.

He simply could not believe it!

Making it to the pitlane gave Bunta the chance to analyze what had happened and, with a pang, he realised what he'd done wrong. While he'd been so focused on trying to avoid the crashed cars, Yamazaki had studied the shortest path across them.

'That's it,' Bunta whispered to himself, 'that's what a professional racer does.'

In spite of everything, seeing just how happy everyone at the team was, Bunta decided that he would take today's defeat as a valuable learning experience. Yes, he had lost, but he had also figured out the reason why he had. It helped that Yamazaki, while they were collecting their prizes at the podium, smiled at him and said:

'I know what you did.'

Bunta pretended not to understand and that made Yamazaki's smile widen.

'Like I thought,' he said, 'I'll have to be even more careful from now on.'

'Then I'll have to get even better,' Bunta replied.

'I'll be looking forward to that,' Yamazaki said.

By the time Bunta joined his team, he feared that Sakamoto would insist on going somewhere to celebrate but, to his relief, the man was already coordinating everyone so that they could all leave as soon as possible.

'Fujiwara,' he said, 'you did a very good job today.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said.

'Now, I know you're dying to go back home to share the news with your uncle,' he continued, 'since Matsuda also needs to go back home you guys can go ahead. I have to stay here to discuss the terms of our new sponsors but I'll see you at the testing track this Wednesday.'

'Okay,' Bunta said.

'Fujiwara,' Sakamoto said, 'don't worry too much about not winning. You were really close, close enough to make Yamazaki uncomfortable. I'll be looking forward to the next races.'

'Funny,' Bunta couldn't help but to say, 'he said the same thing.'

Sakamoto laughed at that and, ruffling Bunta's hair, he walked away from him. Matsuda took the chance to inform Bunta that the he was ready to go and, after arranging with Yoshida to meet up sometime during the week, Bunta followed Matsuda towards the van.

The mechanic didn't talk at all during the whole way, something Bunta actually enjoyed and, by the time they made it back to the family restaurant where he'd parked his 2000GT the previous day, he'd fallen asleep.

'Hey kid,' Matsuda said, 'wake up.'

Bunta did feeling slightly embarrassed. Realising that Matsuda wanted to go home, he climbed out of the van grabbing his bag as he did so. Then, after thanking Matsuda for the ride, he made his way to his beloved car.

Less than fifteen minutes later he parked his car at his usual spot outside the shop. He doubted that a second place would be enough to impress his uncle but he wanted to tell him nevertheless so, with a light sprint, he hurried towards the shop's door, opening it as quickly as possible.

'Oh shit…'

Right there, laying on the floor, he found an obviously unconscious Eikichi.

_To be continued…_


	60. Chapter Fifty Nine

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Fifty Nine_

Doing his best to not succumb to panic, Bunta ran across the shop's working area, jumping over Eikichi's limp form, to do the only sensible thing possible: call an ambulance and get professional help. He yanked the phone's receiver and dialled the number.

'Emergency services,' a lady answered.

'I need an ambulance,' Bunta quickly said. He was surprised of how calm he sounded when he supplied the address to the operator and felt grateful when he heard her say that help would be arriving shortly.

While he waited, he ran back to his uncle and, requiring an enormous amount of effort, he turned him around so that he laid on his back. Then, taking off his own jacket, he placed it under Eikichi's head. Only then he found the courage to look at his face.

It looked ashen.

His throat contracted painfully. He knew that unless the ambulance came quickly, it would be too late. Then, remembering some first aid course he'd taken in high school, he decided to check his uncle's vitals. He first placed his index and middle fingers onto the side of his neck and waited to see if there was a pulse.

For several interminable instants, he didn't feel anything but then, he found it. It was faint, but it was there.

Bunta never had time to see if Eikichi was breathing for, right at that moment, he heard the siren of the approaching ambulance. He sworn that it was the best, most reassuring sound he'd ever heard. Very soon, the vehicle stopped outside the shop and then three paramedics walked into the shop wheeling in a stretcher which carried a CPR machine.

'What's the problem?' one of them asked him.

'I'm not sure,' Bunta replied, 'he had an angina a while ago.'

'Okay,' the man said, 'please step aside while we work.'

Bunta complied immediately and, within instants, two of the medics moved Eikichi onto the stretcher while the third one connected a sensor to his chest and checked for his vital signs. The three of them seemed to be happy with the results for they started wheeling the stretcher out of the shop.

'We're taking him to the hospital,' the same man explained to Bunta, 'can you come with us?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied, 'is it a heart attack?'

'The doctors at the hospital will give you more information,' the medic replied, 'it's very important that we leave now.'

'Sure,' Bunta said. He didn't feel like arguing with anybody so, very obediently, he climbed onto the back of the ambulance, sitting exactly where he was told. He didn't even worry about the fact that they had left the shop's door unlocked. Right now, his brain was very busy both worrying about Eikichi and trying to remain as calm as possible.

Within minutes, they got to the hospital where another set of medics, doctors by the looks of them, were already waiting for them. They quickly unloaded the stretcher which was carrying Eikichi and they then proceeded to take him into the ER.

'Take a seat over there,' one of the paramedics said pointing at a row of chairs lined up against the corridor's wall, 'someone will come to find you soon.'

The man left him standing there, walking out of the hospital, probably going back to the ambulance so that he'd be ready for the next emergency. Not knowing what else to do, Bunta decided to sit down and wait.

Five minutes passed.

Ten.

Fifteen.

Half an hour later, not one of the many people who kept hurrying along the corridors even attempted to talk to him. He kept looking at the door through which they've had pushed Eikichi's stretcher. His uncle was somewhere beyond that door and Bunta didn't even know if…

Not wanting to finish that thought, he got up with every intention to go and find someone when, running towards him, he saw Yuuichi Tachibana.

'Bunta!' he shouted, earning a glare from a couple of nurses.

'What are you doing here?' Bunta asked.

'I saw you driving back home,' Yuuichi explained while trying to catch up his breath, 'I thought of paying you a visit but, by the time I got to the shop, I saw an ambulance driving away from it…I…' he stopped for a bit, as if he were unsure of what to say next, then, he asked, 'what's wrong with your uncle?'

'I don't know,' Bunta replied, 'but I'm going to find out.'

With that, he walked away from Yuuichi and, grabbing the very first nurse he found by her arm, made her turn towards him and said:

'My uncle was brought in ages ago. I _demand _to know what's wrong with him.'

The poor nurse looked frightened for a moment, then, something flashed on her small face: anger and something else. She then removed her arm from Bunta's grasp and, putting her hands on her hips, she asked:

'Why is it that I always have to deal with the worst side of you?'

Bunta stared at her in surprise for what seemed like a long time then, before he could come up with an answer to her question, Yuuichi asked tentatively:

'Kumiko-chan?'

'You know each other?' an even more incredulous Bunta asked him.

'You know her too,' was Yuuichi's absurd reply.

'He probably doesn't remember me,' the nurse said to Yuuichi.

The situation was so bizarre that Bunta momentarily forgot about his uncle. Instead, he stared at the nurse called Kumiko for a while. The girl was very young, she couldn't be twenty yet. She was also rather short and thin and had very shiny black hair currently curled into a bun which she had pinned at the back of her head.

Her face was very ordinary but she was cute enough. But he still could not remember where he'd met her before and it wasn't until she spoke that everything clicked into place.

'I'm Seiko's younger sister,' she said, 'you do remember your ex-girlfriend, don't you?'

'Oh,' was all that Bunta was able to say, 'I see.'

'Mizuno Kumiko,' she continued, 'pointing at the small nametag pinned to her uniform. Now, what can I do to help you?'

Bunta was taken aback by the sudden change of topic. Unfortunately for him, this made him remember the reason why he was at the hospital in the first place and, with that, his angst came back to him too:

'I want to know what's wrong with my uncle and no one will tell me anything.'

Kumiko looked at him for a bit, the anger on her face had disappeared and, instead, she frowned in worry and a good dose of pity. Bunta realised that it was the same expression she had the last time he'd seen her nearly five years ago, right when she'd told him that Seiko was leaving Shibukawa.

'I'll see what I can do,' she finally said, 'meanwhile, please do sit down, both of you,' she added looking at Yuuichi. Then, she just walked away from the two men, leaving Yuuichi with the task of making his best friend comply with Kumiko's request.

'I can't believe she's here,' he told Bunta, 'I thought she was in Furano.'

'Me too,' Bunta replied.

'She's really cute,' Yuuichi commented.

'I wonder what your wife will think if she hears you say that,' Bunta said.

'You won't tell her, will you?' Yuuichi asked looking positively freaked out at the thought.

'Of course not,' Bunta said, 'unless you give me a reason to…'

'I hate you,' Yuuichi complained.

Bunta didn't have the time to reply to that because Kumiko came back from wherever she'd gone to. She looked a little worried and as though as she was thinking of a way to convey bad news in the best possible way. Both Yuuichi and Bunta got up from their seats.

'What's up?' Bunta asked her nervously.

'I have good news and bad ones,' she replied.

'Bad news first,' Bunta said preparing himself mentally.

'Okay,' Kumiko said, 'the bad news is that your uncle has had a heart attack. He's in the intensive care unit and is unconscious. The good news is that it doesn't seem like his brain's been damaged although is too early to tell. The doctors think that you arrived just after it happened; and since you called the ambulance straight away, you probably saved his life.'

'Bunta…' Yuuichi started.

'So, is he going to be okay?' Bunta asked Kumiko.

'I don't know,' she replied honestly, 'the doctors are still doing some tests, I'm sure one of them will come to talk to you as soon as they can.'

'Okay,' he said.

'Listen,' Kumiko said, 'I know it's not an easy situation for you but, right now, the only thing you can do is be patient, okay?'

Bunta nodded once.

'There are a few vending machines down that way,' she said, 'get something warm to drink, it will help and, if you need anything else, just let one of my colleagues know, okay?'

'Sure,' he said then, something made him add, 'thanks, for everything.'

'I'm only doing my job,' she said before she walked away once again. Bunta found himself following her with eyes and, for some weird reason, Yuuichi's comment came back to him, his best friend was right: she _was_ cute. Bunta shocked himself with that thought so much that he started shaking his head.

'You're okay?' he heard Yuuichi ask.

'Yeah,' he replied all-too-quickly, 'I'm fine.'

He then went to sit back down on the same chair he'd used before and, only then, he allowed himself to think of what Kumiko had said about his uncle. He guessed he had to feel grateful that Eikichi was still alive but that didn't stop him from being more scared than he'd been in his whole life.

'What am I going to do?' he asked Yuuichi in a somewhat childish manner.

'What do you mean?' his best friend asked back, he had too sat down.

'If Eikichi…' he started.

'He's a strong guy,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'I'm sure he'll pull it off just as he did the last time.'

'The last time he had an angina,' Bunta reminded him, 'this time…I…I'm only twenty three!'

'I know,' Yuuichi said looking rather sorry, 'look, it's useless that we worry about this now. Like Kumiko-chan said, the doctors are doing all they can for him and until you talk to them, well, I think we need to wait and see.'

Bunta said nothing.

'And don't worry about the shop,' Yuuichi continued, 'Fuka and I will help you out. I know it's been a while but I'm sure we'll be fine. I can even do the deliveries if you want.'

'Yuuichi…'

'I'm serious,' he said, 'it'll also be a good practice for me. Ever since I got married I haven't been driving much and the Capella's trunk is big enough for the boxes.'

Trust Yuuichi to be so freaking sensible, Bunta thought. He wanted to be mad at his best friend for being so pushy but, truth be told, he felt very grateful to have such a good friend. Bunta couldn't remember the moment when he'd started thinking of the annoying, know-it-all Yuuichi Tachibana as though as he was his own brother.

'Thanks,' he half-muttered.

'Don't mention it,' Yuuichi replied patting him on the shoulder he then got up from his chair.

'Where are you going?' Bunta asked him.

'I have to call Fuka or she'll get mad at me,' he replied, 'I'll also go and get us something to drink.'

Bunta thrust his hand in his pocket to fish for some coins when Yuuichi made a gesture with his hand.

'It's my treat,' he said.

While Yuuichi was gone, a balding old man with a shabby looking doctor's coat walked to where Bunta was sitting. He got up from his chair immediately and, even before he had the chance to open his mouth to speak, the old man said:

'You must be Fujiwara Bunta.'

'Yes,' Bunta said wondering where the man had got his name from. He guessed Kumiko had supplied the information and couldn't help but to be impressed that the girl remembered so much about him, considering they've only seen each other two or three times in their whole lives and that was a long time ago.

'You're uncle is stable now,' the doctor said interrupting Bunta's thoughts, 'he's had a heart attack but he was lucky because he got the help he needed very quickly. He's still unconscious but that's normal. We'll need to wait till tomorrow to see if he wakes up on his own, till then, the only thing we can do is wait.'

'Ku-,' Bunta started then, correcting himself, he said, 'the nurse said that there isn't any damage to his brain so, when he wakes up, he'll be okay, won't he?'

The doctor seemed to take a couple of seconds to come up with the appropriate answer.

'Fujiwara-kun,' he finally said, 'you need to understand that your uncle has had a major heart attack. The nurse was correct in saying that his brain doesn't seem to be affected by it but, while he won't have any mental disability, your uncle will not be able to carry out the same lifestyle he's had up until now.'

'What are you saying?' Bunta asked anxiously.

'I'm saying that he'll need help for quite a few daily tasks. His body, even after the therapy, will be very weak so he'll have to limit the amount of physical activities as well as observing a carefully controlled diet so that his heart does not have any further strain.'

Bunta didn't know what to say. He just could not even begin to imagine his very active uncle as the crippled man the doctor was describing. Just the thought of having to help him up the stairs sent a shiver down his spine, someone as proud as Eikichi would rather die than to let anyone treat him like an invalid.

'Fujiwara-kun,' the doctor continued, 'I know this is a lot to take in for someone as young as you but, we're all here to help. Once your uncle recovers, we'll talk about the options we have, okay?'

'Y…' he chocked then, swallowing the tears which were quickly coming to his eyes, Bunta tried again, 'yes. Thank you,' he even managed to say.

'You're welcome,' the doctor said.

'Can I see him?' Bunta asked before the doctor could walk away.

'Of course,' the old man replied, 'I'll get one of the nurses to take you to his room. Please wait here.'

'Okay,' Bunta replied.

Right at that moment, Yuuichi came back with a couple of cans containing warm tea. He gave one of them to Bunta who took it with a very shaky hand. A concerned looking Yuuichi asked:

'Was that the doctor?'

'Yes.'

'What did he say?' Yuuichi asked.

Bunta looked at his best friend then, unable to stop himself, not caring about the fact that they were in the middle of a very public place, he threw himself onto Yuuichi, making him drop the can he was carrying. Bunta started sobbing and, for the first time, he showed all the angst, fear and worry he'd been feeling ever since he'd found his uncle lying on the shop's floor.

His brain just refused to process the fact that he would never see Eikichi drifting down Mt Akina with his Bellett. If what the doctor said was true, it was possible that Eikichi could not even drive ever again.

'Bunta…' Yuuichi whispered softly, 'hey Bunta…'

'That will kill him,' Bunta muttered against Yuuichi's shoulder.

'What? What will kill him?' Yuuichi asked him urgently.

Bunta separated himself from his best friend and, looking at him with his face contorted by the pain, he said:

'If he can't drive, Eikichi will rather kill himself.'

Yuuichi stared at Bunta the full impact of the statement finally dawning on him. Then, Yuuichi's usually gentle expression mirrored the sorrow displayed on Bunta's face. Yuuichi knew that Bunta was right, if they took driving away from Eikichi Fujiwara.

'Oh…'

The gasp made both young men look away from each other. They saw Kumiko looking slightly embarrassed while she nervously played with the clip-pad she was holding.

'I'm sorry,' she said quickly, 'Dr Yanagisawa told me you wanted to see your uncle.'

'Yes,' Bunta said doing his best to wipe off his moist face.

'I can come back later,' Kumiko offered.

'No,' Bunta said, 'I…we…'

'I'll wait here,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'Fuka, she's on her way.'

'Okay,' Bunta said then, looking back at Kumiko, he added, 'please show me the way.'

Kumiko just nodded and, soon enough, both of them were walking down the corridor together. In spite of all the angst he was feeling, he also felt mortified that she had seen him in such a pitiable state. He knew that the predicament more than justified his crying and that in her job as a nurse she was probably used to people throwing tantrums but, his behaviour up until then had been most uncool.

'It's here,' she said indicating a big white door, 'there's a chair next to his bed. You can talk to him if you want but please keep your voice down so that you don't disturb the other patients and their relatives.'

'Sure,' Bunta said.

'I'm very sorry,' Kumiko added. Bunta guessed that she wasn't talking as a nurse, 'I know that you…'

'What do you know?' Bunta's question came out a little too dryly.

'Nothing,' Kumiko hurried to say, 'I better go now, I have work to do.'

She then walked away, a little more briskly than she really needed to and that made Bunta feel rather stupid.

'What's wrong with you?' he muttered to himself while he pushed the door open. The poor girl was just trying to do her job and he'd been a total ass to her. He would have worried about the fact that her opinion of him could not get any worse when he saw Eikichi on his bed. That made everything else disappear.

The room was actually fairly large and there were five other beds other than his uncle's in it. On one of the room's ends there was a glass panel through which one could see the nurse's station. There was also another door which was kept open.

It was fairly warm in the room, probably to keep the patients as comfortable as possible.

As Kumiko had said, four out of the six beds were currently occupied and just as many relatives were also sitting by their unconscious beloved ones. Bunta hurried to sit down by Eikichi who looked a lot better than what he'd expected.

The older man's face was no longer ashen and, if one ignored the machines which were connected to him, it looked as though as he was just sleeping.

Bunta looked at the hand which was closer to him and for a while, he wondered if Eikichi would approve of him holding his hand then, deciding that Eikichi didn't need to find out and that, in all honesty, he really wanted to feel the contact, Bunta took it in his own.

It was cold.

In spite of the extra warmth in the room, it seemed like Eikichi was colder than normal.

That made Bunta get up and, looking around himself, he saw another blanket at the bottom shelf of the small, white bedside table; grabbing it, he went to put it on Eikichi when, all of a sudden, one of the nurses from the nearby station walked through the door and said:

'Don't do that.'

'He's cold,' Bunta countered.

The nurse checked something on one of the machines and, shaking her head, she said:

'His temperature is normal.'

She then touched Bunta's forehead and said:

'It's you who is too warm, are you okay?'

Bunta frowned. He wasn't feeling anything out of the ordinary, asides from a headache which he assumed it was because of all the tension and the crying. He was also very tired, something which was perfectly normal, considering he'd been racing only a few hours before.

Racing…the JTCC race felt like something which had happened years ago.

'Sir, are you okay?' the nurse repeated, her tone getting softer and more concerned.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'I'm just tired.'

'Okay,' she said not sounding too convinced, 'I think you should use that cover for yourself since you're only wearing a t-shirt. I'm surprised you feel so warm, are you sure you're not feeling sick?'

Bunta shook his head. He then thought that he'd probably left his jacket on the floor at the shop so he'd been wearing only one thin layer all this time. He guessed that the adrenaline rush had kept him from feeling cold.

Doing what the nurse had just told him, he covered his back and shoulders with the cream coloured blanket, then, he sat down by Eikichi's bed and grabbed his hand once again.

'Call us if you start feeling unwell,' the nurse advised.

Bunta nodded without looking at her. Instead, he focused his attention on Eikichi and remembered what Kumiko had said about talking to him. He had read somewhere that talking to people in a coma usually helped them wake up.

The problem was that he didn't really know what to say to his uncle. The two of them had never had any really long conversation other than when they talked about cars or driving techniques and, right now, both topics seemed to be very inappropriate.

'You need to wake up,' he whispered, 'Uncle Eikichi, you really need to wake up, okay?'

He then remained silent, listening to the regular beep from a nearby machine.

Something squeezing his hand weakly made Bunta wake up from a very weird dream during which his uncle was in hospital after having had a heart attack. He half opened his eyes, expecting to find himself in his bed, at the room just above the Fujiwara Tofu Shop.

Instead, he saw the same he'd seen in his dream only that, this time, his uncle was awake.

'Eikichi!' Bunta exclaimed all-too-loudly.

This made everyone in the room look at him. Even the nurses from the following shift came into the room.

'Go and get the doctor,' one of them, a tall middle aged woman ordered to one of her juniors.

'Eikichi,' Bunta repeated, 'you're awake!'

The older man stared at him and, in spite of looking as weak as baby, his glance still managed to be patronising. If Eikichi could have spoken, Bunta was sure he would have commented on his nephew's astonishing observation skills.

'Can we get that thing out of his mouth now?' Bunta asked to one of the nurses.

'We'll see what the doctor says,' she replied.

Bunta glanced at his wristwatch; it was nearly six o'clock in the morning.

'Oh crap,' he whispered. For the first time ever, the Fujiwara Tofu Shop had failed to deliver the tofu. He didn't even want to think of what Eikichi would say when he found out. Bunta was lucky that the doctor arrived at that precise minute so that he got the distraction he needed.

As it turned out, the doctor was the same old, balding man with the shabby looking coat. It seemed like the poor guy had just been taking a nap, which wasn't surprising, considering the amount of hours medical staff usually spent at their posts.

'Fujiwara-san,' the doctor said talking to Eikichi, 'you're as strong as I hoped you'd be. Let me check a couple of things but I'd say we can take the respirator out of your throat. I'm sure you want to talk to your nephew.'

Eikichi seemed to agree with the doctor and five minutes later, the tube which ensured his lungs got enough oxygen was removed. It caused quite a fit of coughing but, soon, Eikichi was able to form his first, very feeble words.

'What happened?' he managed to ask.

'Your heart,' Bunta explained, 'you had a heart attack.'

Eikichi closed his eyes briefly before opening them again.

'You've been feeling more tired than usual,' the doctor said. It wasn't a question but Eikichi nodded.

'That's why you've been grumpy,' Bunta commented.

'I…'

'Don't deny it,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I knew something was wrong. I've been trying to…'

'Fujiwara-kun,' the doctor interrupted softly, 'what's in the past is in the past. I'm sure your uncle realises that he needs to take things easy, now more than ever.'

Eikichi nodded and, looking at his nephew, he said:

'I'm sorry.'

Bunta felt the lump coming back to his throat. His uncle had only apologised to him once, after he'd hit him when he'd asked information about his father. He'd been nothing but a kid back then but, right now, he still felt like he needed his uncle as much as he did when he was a newly orphaned eighteen year old.

'Uncle,' he managed to say, 'I know that you won't like it but, you need to let me take care of you, okay?'

Eikichi nodded.

'Because I simply don't know what I'd do without you, okay?'

Eikichi nodded again.

'And I want you there for when I'll win my first race as a pro, okay?'

'You didn't win this time either?' Eikichi asked him. His voice still sounded horribly weak.

'No,' Bunta admitted, 'but soon I will. I promise.'

'I know,' Eikichi whispered.

'In exchange,' Bunta said, 'you need to promise me that you'll take it really easy from now on.'

Eikichi nodded.

'We have a deal then.'

'Bunta,' Eikichi said.

'Yes?'

'The delivery…'

Bunta bit his lip and lowered his eyes to stare at the floor. Trust his uncle to think of the tofu delivery right after surviving a heart attack! Making a huge effort, Bunta glanced up and looked at his uncle's face ready to face his contempt. Instead, his uncle smiled weakly and said:

'Oh well.'

That made Bunta let out a chuckle. He was so relieved to see his uncle awake that he would have cried of sheer happiness but, right at that moment, he saw Kumiko walking into the room and he'd be damned if he let that girl see him cry ever again!

_To be continued…_


	61. Chapter Sixty

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty_

Eikichi fell asleep at around seven o'clock in the morning and Dr Yanagisawa told Bunta that it was now safe to go home so that he could get some rest himself and while he was at it, take a shower and some fresh clothes. Not feeling like arguing with the good doctor, Bunta got up and left the ICU room, also because Yuuichi was still out there, waiting for some news.

'How's your uncle?' his best friend asked.

'He'll be fine,' Bunta replied, 'I think,' he added almost inaudibly.

'Oh,' Yuuichi sighed looking relieved, 'that's great news, isn't it?'

'Yeah,' Bunta said tiredly, 'where's your wife? I thought she'd be here.'

'Yeah well,' Yuuichi started, he smiled a little and continued, 'she's cleaning things up at the shop.'

'The shop?' Bunta asked confused, he was going to ask which shop when realisation dawned on him.

'We did the deliveries for you this morning,' Yuuichi explained.

'You did what?' Bunta asked surprised.

'Fuka and I,' Yuuichi said, 'we knew you weren't going to be able to take care of it so, we went to the shop, prepared the tofu together and then I delivered it to Ryo-san with my Capella.'

Bunta was speechless.

'Mind you,' Yuuich continued, 'it's a good thing you guys haven't changed the machines you use. Otherwise it would have been really hard to figure out how to do it. It's been a while, you know?'

'Yuuichi…'

'It was okay though,' he kept on talking, 'Ryo-san checked the tofu himself and he said it was good. He sends his best wishes to Eikichi-san and told me to tell you not to worry about the deliveries and to do your best to make sure Eikichi-san doesn't overdo it.'

'That old man,' Bunta said shaking his head affectionately.

'In any case, I told him that we'll give you a hand so we'll still do the deliveries as regularly as always. And,' Yuuichi said seeing that Bunta was going to protest, 'don't you think you can tell us not to help you, because Fuka and I have already decided we'll help and there's nothing you can do to stop us.'

'Yuuichi…'

'It's two against one,' Yuuichi said, 'and, if I were you, I wouldn't argue with Fuka.'

Bunta looked at his best friend for as short while considering whether to remind him that Fuka wasn't _his_ wife and, therefore, any of the emotional blackmail she could use against him would not work quite as well as it obviously did with her husband. Again, Yuuichi was doing him a gigantic favour, so…

'Okay,' Bunta finally said, 'but only whenever I'm away for the races. I'll do the rest myself.'

'What about the testing sessions?' Yuuichi asked him, 'some of those go on forever.'

'Yuuichi…'

'Look,' he interrupted him, 'let's just take each day as it comes, okay? Until Eikichi-san gets released, I would like you to concentrate on him and your racing. You know Fuka is bored after quitting her job.'

'Whose fault is that?'

'Hey,' Yuuichi protested, 'what kind of a husband would I be if I let her work after getting married?'

'What about the petrol station?' Bunta asked ignoring Yuuichi's old-fashioned ways.

'You know my father's still very much in charge,' Yuuichi explained, 'if I explain to him what happened, he'll more than understand. And can you please stop being so ridiculously difficult? We're helping you, and that's the end of it, okay?'

Once again, Bunta was reminded of the reason why Yuuichi Tachibana usually got his way. It was very dangerous to let him do the talking for he always managed to come up with a way to get people to do what he wanted.

'Okay?' Yuuichi insisted.

'Alright,' Bunta gave up, 'it's not like I have much of an option.'

'Nope,' Yuuichi said, 'you don't. Now, are you going to go back home?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'the doctor told me Eikichi will be sleeping for a bit.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi said, 'I'll take you there. You should get some sleep too, you're looking tired, you know?'

'You should look at yourself,' Bunta countered.

It was true: Yuuichi did look like he desperately needed some quality time with the pillow. That made Bunta feel very guilty and it made him hope that there would be one day in which he'd return the favour.

That same evening a fully rested Bunta opened the shop's door to Yuuichi and Fuka. She was carrying a couple of shopping bags while her husband had a medium-size case hanging from his left hand.

'What's that?' Bunta asked him.

'Oh, you know, stuff,' he replied.

'Stuff?' Bunta insisted.

'Well,' Fuka said, 'since we're going to be here often enough, I thought of bringing some things from home, you know, some clothes and…'

'What's in there then?' Bunta asked pointing at the shopping bags.

'Food,' Fuka replied.

'We have food,' Bunta said frowning a little. Did she think he and his uncle starved to death?

'I know silly,' Fuka laughed, 'it's just a few of the things I know Yuuichi likes. Also, I know you don't have any semi-skimmed milk and I don't like the full-fat one.'

'Just bear with it,' Yuuichi advised while stepping into the shop. Bunta, wisely enough, decided to take the two bags from Fuka and followed the married couple into the house he called home. He left the bags on top of the kitchen's small table and then Fuka proceeded to distribute the numerous packages and bottles.

'So,' Bunta said to Yuuichi while Fuka was busy, 'I know you guys said you'd help and all but tonight I'm home and I thought of…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'shouldn't you go to see your uncle?'

'No,' Bunta replied, 'I just came back from the hospital and he's resting. I don't think it'll help if I'm around too much. Besides, I prefer to keep myself busy and you know that.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi said, 'then let's do this: Fuka will make dinner for us, you and I will make the tofu for tonight and, if you really insist, you can go and do the delivery while Fuka and I tidy things up here. How is that?'

Bunta looked at the pair and, making a visible effort to compromise, he said:

'Fine.'

'Good,' Fuka said smiling happily, 'I hope you still like my curry rice because I'm going to make some.'

Bunta had the feeling that, even if he didn't, he would not complain. One thing he'd learned about Yuuichi's wife, and women in general, was that arguing with them was as pointless as talking to a wall. Besides, he was actually quite hungry.

At exactly five to four, Bunta sat inside the Bellett, holding the steering wheel with even more reverence than usual. He was always careful driving the Isuzu but, this time, he felt like he needed to pay some extra attention to his driving.

For this reason, he started the climb up Mt Akina with a slight delay in comparison to his other runs. He didn't really care for, tonight, he needed the time to think about everything that had happened to him in the previous twenty four hours.

From the disappointment of not having quite managed to beat Yamazaki, he had gone to a state of shock when he'd found Eikichi sprawled on the shop's floor. He was only beginning to recover and it had definitely helped to see that his uncle seemed quite keen to stay alive, as Dr Yanagisawa had told him in the afternoon when he'd gone to check on Eikichi.

While medicine nowadays made it possible for people to have a fair chance of survival after a heart attack, it was still remarkable that Eikichi had woken up so quickly and that he showed to be in quite high spirits. One thing which worried Bunta was that, so far, his uncle hadn't made any complaints about wanting to go home, which probably meant the old man finally understood the gravity of his situation.

'I hope so,' Bunta half-whispered talking to himself.

There was another thing which made him very concerned: he knew that while Eikichi was at the hospital, he would probably be forced to do as he was told by the staff but, once his uncle was allowed to go back home, Bunta feared he would not be quite as successful at trying to keep Eikichi under control.

The old man was just way too stubborn!

Bunta was about to turn around one of the last left-handers before the pass started to get really steep when, all of a sudden, he saw a green Nissan crashed against the guardrail. He knew it had just happened because he could still see some steam coming from the front of the car and its driver still hadn't had the chance to get out of it.

Pulling over to the side of the road where the Nissan was, Bunta stopped the Bellett and climbed out of it just as the Nissan's driver did the same. His heart skipped a couple of beats when he saw who the driver was.

'Keiichi!'

'Oh,' the younger guy said, 'Bunta…how embarrassing!'

'What in the heck are you doing in here?' Bunta asked.

'Drifting,' Keiichi replied smiling sheepishly, 'or, trying to.'

'What…why?' Bunta asked.

'I was training,' Keiichi replied, 'you know, for our race and all.'

'Oh crap!' Bunta exclaimed, 'I forgot about that.'

'WHAT?' Keiichi shouted, his eyebrows nearly disappearing beyond his short fringe. He then looked appalled.

'No, wait,' Bunta hurried to say, he placed a hand on top of Keiichi's shoulder, clasped it briefly, then let go of it, 'I didn't mean that I forgot we had to race, is just that…so many things have happened.'

'Yeah,' Keiichi said, 'I know.'

'You do?' Bunta asked him, it was his turn to be surprised.

'Yeah, you claimed the podium at the last JTCC race,' Keiichi replied, 'you're probably not interested about some silly street one, right? Besides it's not like if I can race now.'

'Wait,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I said I'd race you and I will. It's just that my uncle's had a heart attack and things have got a little complicated for me. I wasn't even thinking of our race.'

'Oh,' Keiichi gasped, 'he's not...is he?'

'No, he'll be alright,' Bunta said, then, carefully observing the younger man he asked, 'what about you? Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' Keiichi replied, 'I'm more hurt about the fact that I just crashed my car. I can't believe I lost control of it so badly. Now, look at it! It'll take me ages to get the money I'll need to fix it.'

'What were you trying to do?' Bunta asked out of curiosity.

'Eh…'

'I mean, this is not a particularly difficult corner and, I take you were going downhill,' Bunta commented.

'Yeah,' Keiichi admitted then, nearly hiding his face with his hand, he half-muttered, 'I was practicing my ski drift. Like the ones you used to do in here.'

'Downhill?' Bunta asked, his mild curiosity had become alarm, 'have you already mastered it on a flat surface?'

'Not yet,' Keiichi replied, 'why? I thought…'

'Keiichi,' Bunta said, trying to keep an even tone of voice, 'before you try it downhill, you need to be perfect on a flat surface. Otherwise, things like these happen,' he added pointing at the poor car. Now that he was closer to the car and using the lights from the Bellett, he saw that the guardrail had actually kept Keiichi from plummeting down the cliff. The kid had been super-lucky.

'I'm sorry,' Keiichi said, 'I…'

'It's okay,' Bunta interrupted, 'what matters now is that you're okay. The car, we'll fix it somehow. I'll ask Nitta-san, I'm sure he'll give you a discount or something.'

'Really?' Keiichi asked, his young face lighting up like a Christmas tree.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'but just because you can get it repaired cheaply, it doesn't mean you can go around crashing it all the time, okay?'

'Of course not,' Keiichi said getting very serious, 'also because…'

He stopped talking, as though as he had just been about to say something he didn't want to say.

'Because?' Bunta pressed him on.

'It's a secret,' Keiichi said, 'well, more like a surprise.'

'Keiichi,' Bunta warned him.

'Okay, okay,' Keiichi said, 'I wanted to tell you after our race but, I can't wait to share the news with…everyone!'

'What's happened?' Bunta asked, at this point he was smiling in an almost fatherly way.

'My application has been accepted,' Keiichi replied, 'next year, I'll race in the Fuji Freshman Series, just like you did!'

'Wow,' Bunta exclaimed, 'that _is_ really good news. Congratulations!' he then added.

'Yeah,' Keiichi said, 'I'm only sorry I'm too late to race you there. If only I had made it two years ago, I would have raced you there too.'

'Keiichi,' Bunta said, 'two years ago you were only eighteen and you had barely got your driving license.'

'I know,' Keiichi accepted, 'but it's okay, now that I'm finally getting into the racing world, I'll catch up with you in no time. Just wait and see.'

'I'm sure you will,' Bunta said, 'and I'll look forward to that day.'

'Eh, Bunta,' Keiichi said, 'weren't you going somewhere?'

Bunta checked his wristwatch: it was nearly twenty past four. He had less than ten minutes to make it to the top or he'd be late! To think he wanted to be careful with the Bellett.

'Are you sure you don't need a hand?' Bunta asked Keiichi.

'Nope,' Keiichi said, 'the engine's still running, I'll just try and get it to the station. I'll wait for the first train back home.'

'Wait,' Bunta said, he produced a card, one of the few his uncle had printed for the shop. Offering it to Keiichi, he said, 'this is where I live. My friend Yuuichi and his wife are there right now so I can't offer you a room to sleep but you can wait there till Nitta-san's shop opens. I'll take you there myself, okay?'

'Are you sure?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied, 'we are friends, aren't we?'

Keiichi's expression was a mix of ecstasy and disbelief which made Bunta laugh out loud for the first time in what it seemed like a long time. Not having time to waste, he left Keiichi standing there and ran back to the Bellett, turning it on and leaving the kid and his car behind in one single manoeuvre.

'That guy…' Keiichi started then, smiling widely, he muttered, 'he's my friend.'

Five minutes past five, Bunta parked the Bellett next to a heavily dented Nissan. His beloved 2000GT was somewhere near the front of the shop and Bunta thought that the street was definitely not wide enough to cope with so many vehicles.

'You're back _already_?' Yuuichi asked him rather pointlessly.

'Of course,' Bunta replied.

'But,' Keiichi said, 'I just got here myself and…'

'Tsuchiya-kun,' Yuuichi said shaking his head, 'we forgot who we're talking to.'

'Yeah,' Keiichi replied, 'I wonder what's your fastest time.'

'No idea,' Bunta said shrugging, 'I stopped keeping track of it, what…two or three years ago?'

'Two,' Yuuichi confirmed, 'I think it was right after you broke your uncle's record.'

'Shush,' Bunta said, 'I don't want Eikichi to find out. He'd be…' he stopped himself short before he would say "heartbroken"for it was hardly an appropriate thing to say, 'very sad,' he then corrected.

'Don't worry,' a smiling Keiichi said, 'it'll be our secret.'

'What secret?' Fuka asked coming out from the house's living room. She looked like she'd been sleeping.

'Nothing,' all three men replied at the same time.

This made Fuka raise her eyebrows but, deciding to let it go, she looked at Keiichi and asked:

'Who are you?'

'Er…' Keiichi hesitated.

'It's a long story,' Yuuichi said then, taking her by her shoulders with his arm, he guided her back into the house, leaving no alternative to Bunta and Keiichi but to follow them there. The former found it rather odd that his best friend and his wife made it almost look like the tofu shop was _their _house. It was almost scary.

Three and a half hours later, Fuka was sleeping in Eikichi's room while Yuuichi, Keiichi and Bunta walked out of the house so that they could take the crashed Nissan to Nitta-san's shop.

In the cold morning light, the damage looked even worse: the right side of the car, the one which had taken the impact against the guardrail, presented a huge dent on the fender and several scratches along the bodywork's length. The front of the car was also quite badly smashed and one of the headlights would need to be entirely replaced.

Getting the car back to normal wasn't going to be cheap, not even with a big discount.

Sadly, that was Nitta-san's same exact verdict:

'Well kid,' he said, 'you're lucky that I have quite a few of the parts we'll need at the shop. I will need to order that fender because it's definitely not stock and I believe we don't have that shade of green either but, for the rest, I think we can start working on it straight away.'

'How much will it cost?' Keiichi asked him, obviously fearing the answer.

'You're a friend of Bunta's,' Nitta-san said, 'I think we can arrange something.'

'Really?'

'Of course,' Nitta-san, 'now, let me go and make a call to get that fender ordered.'

'Thank you so much,' Keiichi said, bowing so low that he nearly brushed his knees with his hair.

'No worries,' a smiling Nitta-san said then, getting serious, he looked at Bunta and said, 'I heard about your uncle's heart attack.'

'You did?' Bunta asked, 'how?'

'Maybe it has escaped your attention Bunta,' Nitta-san replied, 'but _this _is a small town.'

Bunta shook his head in disbelief. He didn't even want to think of how the heck had Nitta-san found out about something which had happened less than twelve hours before. News in Shibukawa seemed to travel even faster than he did while driving downhill.

'How is he doing?' Nitta-san asked interrupting his thoughts.

'He's…he'll be fine,' Bunta replied.

Everyone noticed the small hesitation but, thankfully, no one chose to comment on it. For some reason, Bunta didn't really feel like talking about his uncle's near-miss for, to him, the whole affair was still pretty unbelievable. For this reason, he looked at Keiichi and asked:

'How are you planning on getting home?'

'I'll take the train,' Keiichi replied.

'Are you sure?' Bunta asked him.

'Yeah,' Keiichi replied, 'you've done more than enough already.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'do you know where the station is?'

'I'll find it,' Keiichi replied confidently, 'thanks for everything,' he said, 'all of you,' he then added.

'You're welcome kid,' Nitta-san said.

It was nearly afternoon when Bunta had the house to himself: Yuuichi had gone to his father's petrol station and Fuka had gone to their own place so that she could get some housework done there too. The girl had, yet again, cleaned the entire kitchen and had threatened Bunta that she would tackle the living room next.

'This house needs a woman,' she had pointed out distractedly.

'Fuka!' Yuuichi had admonished her unable to believe that his wife could be so insensitive.

'It's okay,' Bunta had hurried to say.

While having those two around was the distraction he needed, witnessing their mini-domestics made him feel rather weird. For this reason, he enjoyed the quiet peace his house was right at that moment.

Then the phone rang.

'What the…' he muttered getting up from the cushion next to the table. Grabbing the phone, he said: 'Fujiwara Tofu Shop.'

'Bunta!'

It was Yoshida. Funny, Bunta had been thinking that he needed to call him.

'I heard from Yuuichi,' the man said, 'how's your uncle?'

'I'm not sure,' Bunta replied, 'I'm going to see him in about an hour.'

'Bunta,' Yoshida said, 'do you want me to cancel this Wednesday's testing session?'

'No, no,' Bunta hurried to say, 'I don't want to cause Sakamoto-san any trouble, besides, Yuuichi and his wife are helping me, I'll somehow manage.'

'Okay,' Yoshida said, 'but if you need anything…'

'I'll let you know.'

'You do that,' Yoshida said, 'I need to go now but, give my best wishes to your uncle, okay?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'and thanks.'

'No problem,' Yoshida said before hanging up. Bunta, for what felt like the umpteenth time that day, felt blessed to have such great people around him. He didn't think he'd done anything special to deserve so much kindness but he was way too grateful to complain.

Two and a half weeks later, Keiichi Tsuchiya was already driving his car down Mt Usui, happy he hadn't spent anywhere near as much as he feared. Bunta really hoped that this wouldn't make the younger guy prone to sending his car down the cliffs at every chance he got…

He was currently parking his 2000GT at the hospital's car park for what, with a bit of luck, would be the last time. In fact, if everything went well, Bunta would be taking Eikichi home that same afternoon.

'Good morning,' he said to the staff at the reception.

'Fujiwara-san,' one of the senior nurses said, 'I'm happy you're early.'

'Why?' he asked her.

'Because Dr Yanagisawa asked me to give you this form,' she replied producing a sheet of official-looking paper, 'it's for Social Services.'

'Social Services?' Bunta asked her.

'Yes,' she replied, 'Dr Yanagisawa said that your uncle will be needing part-time assistance from someone qualified to do so, Social Services will assign someone for…'

The nurse never finished her speech for, at that instant, Bunta saw both Dr Yanagisawa and Kumiko walking towards them then, the doctor looked at the senior nurse and said:

'Hoshino-san, that form won't be necessary anymore.'

'Why not?' Bunta asked before the nurse could.

'Because it seems like we already have a volunteer,' Dr Yanagisawa replied.

'If you don't mind,' Kumiko said looking at Bunta.

'What?' he asked her. He was feeling rather confused.

'Mizuno-san,' Dr Yanagisawa explained, 'has just asked me if I could assign her to look after your uncle. I listened to her reasons and I think it's a splendid idea.'

'But,' Bunta said, 'what about her job in here?'

'That won't be a problem,' Kumiko replied, 'Dr Yanagisawa thinks that it'll be a good working experience.'

'How much will it cost?' Bunta asked her.

'Fujiwara-kun,' the doctor said, 'she's volunteering. That usually means it's free.'

'You'll work for free?' Bunta asked just to be sure.

'Yes,' Kumiko replied patiently.

'Why?' Bunta asked her.

'For several reasons,' was her mysterious reply, 'but, like I said, it'll be an excellent chance at doing something which I haven't done before.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'can I think about it?'

Kumiko seemed a little taken aback but, her neutral, almost absent-minded expression could mean anything really. Now that he thought about it, he didn't think he'd ever seen her smile.

'Of course,' the girl managed to reply.

'Don't take too long though,' Dr Yanagisawa said, 'I might change my mind.'

'You might?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' the doctor replied, 'Mizuno-san is one of our best new recruits. Which is why I'm happy to oblige to her request since I agree with her that it's a good opportunity to build up the skills she'll need to be an excellent nurse.'

'Well,' Bunta said, 'if you put it this way.'

'You don't need to accept straight away,' Kumiko interrupted him, 'I think it's better if you think about it.'

'Like I was saying,' Bunta said ignoring her comment and looking at the doctor, 'with such a recommendation, how can I say no?'

Dr Yanagisawa smiled at him and said:

'You won't regret this decision.'

For some mysterious reason, Bunta felt that the good doctor was right. He didn't know why but he thought that having Kumiko around, taking care of Eikichi, wasn't going to be a bad thing besides, against his uncle's steel-strength will, he would really need all the help he could get.

_To be continued…_


	62. Chapter Sixty One

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty One_

It was true. He admitted it that he'd fallen prey of Dr Yanagisawa's challenge and he'd accepted Kumiko's offer a tad too easily. He was equally certain that he didn't exactly regret it and that he had been very lucky having a fully qualified nurse volunteering to try and take care of Eikichi.

However, there were two major complications in this apparently harmless plan.

While he drove his uncle back home, Bunta observed him for a while. Eikichi's hair seemed to have gone almost entirely white and he looked a lot older than his fifty five years of age. He also looked thinner but he supposed that that was because of the hospital food.

'What's up?' Eikichi asked. His voice still sounded rather weak.

'Nothing,' Bunta hurried to say, focusing his attention back on the road ahead.

'Why are you looking at me like that?' Eikichi asked.

Instead of answering, Bunta decided to tackle the first of the two complications:

'Eikichi,' he said, 'you were listening to Dr Yanagisawa when he discharged you, weren't you?'

'Kind of,' his uncle replied.

Exactly what Bunta had feared.

'Do you remember what he said about you needing some extra care in these first few weeks, right?'

'Yeah,' Eikichi said.

'Well,' Bunta said, 'I've kind of accepted to have someone helping you out. I…'

'Oh,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I know about that. Kumi-chan told me while you were out talking to the doctor. I can't say it makes me unhappy to have her around. She's a really nice girl, always has been.'

'Always?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied firmly, 'she's very sensible and pragmatic. She kind of reminds me of Miyoko.'

Bunta jerked his head to look at his uncle, finding himself unable to believe that, of all people, Kumiko would remind Eikichi of his long-lost girlfriend. Especially since, from what little he knew of Miyoko, she had been a truly remarkable woman.

'Okay,' was the only thing Bunta managed to say.

'She told me she's coming tomorrow morning,' Eikichi said.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'at eight o'clock. I need to be at the test track at nine but don't worry, I'll show her around the house so that she knows where to find everything.'

'She's not a servant,' Eikichi reminded him.

'I know,' Bunta said a tad too dryly, 'it's just that, if you need anything…'

'I'll go and get it myself,' Eikichi said, using a tone of voice which seemed rather final. Bunta, for the sake of not arguing with him, decided to remain silent also because, from what he'd just heard, Eikichi was more than happy to have Kumiko around the house.

Which left Bunta with the other problem he saw in this whole picture.

The next morning, at five minutes to eight, Bunta heard a soft knock on the door and opening it, he found Kumiko standing there, wearing her nurse's uniform which was only partially covered by a brown coat. It was actually rather cold outside so he hurried to say:

'Come in.'

'Thank you,' Kumiko said stepping into the shop.

'It's cold today, isn't it?' Bunta asked shocking himself in the process: was he talking about _the_ _weather_?

'It is,' Kumiko said nevertheless, 'and it's only October.'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied. There was a pregnant silent during which he realised that, unless he did something about it, things were going to be very awkward between them. For this reason, he said, 'would you like a coffee?'

'No thanks,' Kumiko replied.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'well, give me your coat and…'

'Just show me where I can hang it, please,' she said.

'Of course,' Bunta said. His instinct was right, as usual: things were going to be complicated. He showed her the small cabinet next to the door where they kept the coats. Next to it, there was a small shoe rack which, at the moment, only held Eikichi's old loafers.

'I know you're pressed with time,' Kumiko said while hanging the coat, she then removed her shoes and put on a pair of guest slippers so that she could step onto the tatami which covered the living room's floor, 'so why don't we just get on with it?'

'It's okay,' Bunta said, 'it won't take long: the house isn't that big.'

He tried to laugh a little, alas, Kumiko's expression didn't change and she remained as serious as usual.

'Why don't you start from the kitchen?' she suggested.

'O, okay,' Bunta nearly stuttered.

Half an hour later, Kumiko was scribbling things on a pad she had produced out of her huge handbag. She had been writing down a fair number of things, including where to find the rice and the numbers she could call in case of an emergency.

'So,' she said, 'Tachibana-san is helping you with the tofu.'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'he and Fuka are.'

The mention of Fuka, her sister's best friend, made Kumiko look down at the floor. Bunta saw that, for some reason, she looked a little troubled.

'Are you okay?' he asked her.

'Yeah,' Kumiko replied, 'I think you should get going. I'll be fine.'

He believed her one hundred percent. Something about Kumiko made him think that she always managed to be okay. Yet again, he also thought that there was so much more to her than just a cute but absent-minded looking girl.

'Alright,' Bunta finally said, 'I'm going to go now. If anything happens…'

'I'll call an ambulance,' Kumiko interrupted him, 'then I'll call you, Fujiwara-san.'

'Bunta,' he said.

'What?' Kumiko asked.

'Call me Bunta,' he repeated.

'I can't,' Kumiko said shaking her head.

'That will make things confusing,' Bunta reasoned, 'my uncle and I have both the same surname.'

'It'll be alright,' Kumiko explained, 'your uncle won't let me call him anything other than his first name.'

'All the more reason for you to use my name too,' Bunta countered thinking that he had a winning argument.

'No,' Kumiko said, 'Eikichi-san is a patient, you're not.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Bunta asked, he was now feeling rather confused.

'Fujiwara-san,' Kumiko said glancing at her tiny wristwatch, 'won't you be late if you don't leave now?'

Bunta looked at the shop's clock and saw that it was nearly half past eight. He had half an hour to cover over one hundred kilometres. Plenty of time to make it, if he were to ignore the speed limits; as it was, she was right: unless he left now, he'd probably be late.

'Okay,' he conceded, 'we'll continue this conversation later.'

Kumiko just nodded and by the time he was on the road, he realised that he hadn't asked her how she wanted him to call her. He had heard Eikichi calling her "Kumi-chan" which he assumed was her nickname, however, he doubted she'd allow him to call her that way.

When he arrived at the track, he found that they had a very unexpected visitor: sitting on a wheelchair, with both legs still covered with a heavy looking cast, he saw Takashi Itachi talking with one of the junior mechanics.

'Hello,' the injured racer said seeing Bunta.

He took his time to lock the 2000GT, trying to come up with valid reasons why Takashi could be there.

'You're looking much better,' he finally commented.

'Yeah,' Takashi said, 'the doctors said that my legs are healing rather fast. If I keep it up, I might be able to start rehabilitation in a month or two. I'm aiming to get back on my feet just before Christmas.'

'Best of luck,' Bunta said sincerely.

'Thanks,' Takashi said. He then looked at his lap for a tad before glancing back at Bunta, 'you probably don't care but, my sister's gone abroad. She's in L.A. staying with some friends.'

'You're right,' Bunta said, 'I don't care.'

Takashi seemed to be taken aback and, before he could recover, Bunta asked:

'What are you doing here?'

'Nothing,' the guy said, 'my father is with Sakamoto-san, they're discussing a new deal for next year. I just wanted to come back to the track. I…'

Bunta looked at his former team-mate, expecting him to finish the sentence.

'It doesn't matter,' Takashi said instead, 'I saw your last race on TV. It's amazing you managed to keep up with Yamazaki. He's one heck of a racer, isn't he?'

'Yes, he is,' Bunta replied then, unable to hold it, he said, 'you've changed a lot, you know that?'

'I do,' Takashi said looking very serious, 'being a hair away from death does that. I seriously thought I would die and I'm still not sure if I'll be able to race. But don't say that to Matsuda-san, I'm sure he'd be happy to see me fail.'

'That's not true,' Bunta lied. He felt surprisingly sorry for the poor guy, 'if you think you can do it, then nothing can stop you.'

'I used to think that way,' Takashi said.

'Takashi,' Bunta said, 'do you even _want_ to keep on racing?'

Takashi never answered that question for, right at that moment, Bunta saw his ex father-in-law, walking with Sakamoto who seemed to be happy that his meeting with his troublesome sponsor was over. The team manager's smile widened when he saw Bunta there.

'Good morning kiddo,' he said.

'Hello there,' Bunta replied a little too casually.

'How are you treating my son's car?' Itachi-san then asked.

Before Bunta could reply, Sakamoto said:

'Itachi, no offence or anything but, we've made so many modifications following Fujiwara's advice that the car you can see there has very little to do with the one your son used to drive.'

Itachi-san looked anything but impressed but, for some reason, that made Sakamoto smile some more then, looking at Bunta, the team manager said:

'Go and get changed, Matsuda's very keen on testing the new brakes.'

'Sure,' Bunta said then, entirely ignoring Itachi senior, he looked at Takashi and said, 'good luck with the rehab and remember what I said.'

'Yeah,' Takashi said, 'I will.'

'What's that about?' Itachi-san asked.

'Nothing,' Takashi replied, 'don't worry about it.'

Bunta heard nothing else of the whole exchange for he decided he'd had enough. Seeing the Itachi was quickly becoming one of the things he hated the most in the world, nearly as much as tofu and taking any form of public transportation.

That evening, when he was driving back home, he replayed the conversation he'd had with Sakamoto-san just before leaving the track. The team manager been supremely impressed that, with the new brakes, Bunta's braking points were even more precise than before.

He'd beaten the track's record several times that day.

The team manager had approached him while he was taking a break. Bunta had been observing Matsuda's scientist-like work with the car's suspensions when Sakamoto-san sat next to him and, using a very neutral tone of voice, he said:

'Can I be honest with you?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied, he frowned a little and switched his attention onto his temporary manager.

'I don't think Takashi's going to make it for next year.'

'Uh,' Bunta said not really knowing what else to say. He knew well what was coming next…

'So,' Sakamoto continued, 'I really would like for you to think about driving for us next year.'

'Sakamoto-san…'

'Don't answer me now,' the team manager said, 'I just want you to think about it, okay?'

'I…'

'Just think about it, okay?'

Bunta stared at him for a short while then, slowly, he nodded.

'Good,' Sakamoto-san said then, getting up, he added, 'I know Yoshida-san wants you to try rallying and, I know you'll probably do just as well, if not better, on a real road. But I've seen many racers in my time and very few showed the kind of talent you have.'

'Sakamoto-san…'

'I know,' the older man said, 'I'm just saying that you need to think carefully about what you want to do with your career. You're only twenty three but if you make a mistake and choose the wrong path, it'll be hard to go back to where you are now.'

'Which is where?' Bunta asked.

'Fujiwara,' Sakamoto said, 'it's probably too late for this year but, I'm sure that you could very well claim the JTCC title next year. You'd also be one of the youngest racers who does.'

Bunta's eyebrows went up then, shaking his head a couple of times, he let out a chuckle.

'What's so funny?' Sakamoto asked him. He wasn't angry, just curious.

'I was thinking that I was pretty bigheaded for wanting to win the next race but, after what you said…'

'Fujiwara,' the team manager said looking at him in a fatherly way, 'in motorsports it's not the size of the engine which matters: it's the size of the racer's ego which makes the difference. A racer needs to believe he _is_ the best; to _truly_ believe it.'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'that was what made the difference between Yamazaki and myself in the last race. The way he just pushed his way between those crashed cars instead of avoiding them like I did. But don't worry, I learn from my mistakes very quickly'

'Like I said,' Sakamoto laughed, 'you really are special and I'm looking forward to the race in Nishinihon.'

Bunta just smirked at him and that made Sakamoto laugh out louder.

He parked the 2000GT next to Yuuichi's blue Capella. He expected his best friend and wife to be back at the shop but, when he stepped into it, he saw that Yuuichi and Fuka were having some tea with Kumiko.

'Hello,' he said.

'Hey,' Yuuichi said, 'we've managed to convince Kumiko to stay for dinner. I hope you don't mind.'

Bunta thought the house was going to be a bit overcrowded but, seeing his best friend's happy face, he said, 'of course not but, do we have enough food for everyone or…'

'Don't worry,' Fuka hurried to say, 'Kumiko and I went shopping earlier. We're going to make a stir-fry.'

'Sounds good,' Bunta said then, looking at Kumiko, he asked, 'how's my uncle?'

'He's sleeping now,' she replied.

'Did he give you any trouble while I was gone?' Bunta asked her.

'No,' Kumiko replied, 'he's one of the easiest patients I've worked with.'

'No offence,' Bunta said, 'but I find that very hard to believe.'

'That makes two of us,' Yuuichi whispered, probably fearing that, sleeping or not, Eikichi would still somehow manage to hear him, 'your uncle can be even more stubborn than you are and _that _is saying something!'

'Oi!' Bunta protested, 'I'm not stubborn.'

'Sure you aren't,' Fuka intervened smiling at him benevolently.

'Well,' Kumiko finally spoke, 'try and imagine working with an overweight hypochondriac who, for once in his life, really has something wrong with him and claims he'll die any minute if you let him out of your sight.'

Fuka, Yuuichi and Bunta stared at her in disbelief.

'That was my very first patient,' Kumiko supplied, 'compared to that, Eikichi-san is a joy to work with.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi said, 'if you put it under that perspective, I think I see your point.'

Then, Bunta saw something which left him speechless: Kumiko, for the first time ever, produced a proper smile. Of the kind which carried to her eyes making them shine in a way which reminded him of…

'Stop,' he muttered to himself, still too loud.

'What?' a startled Yuuichi asked him.

'Nothing,' Bunta said, 'I'm going to wash up a bit,' he then added. He nearly ran up the stairs, finding it hard to believe that he, for the first time in years, had thought of Seiko in _that _way. Was he really thinking of Seiko? For some bizarre reason, he refused to answer to his own question.

'I'm just tired,' he whispered he splashed his face with water.

Five minutes later, he joined Yuuichi in the living room. Fuka and Kumiko were busy at the kitchen preparing dinner and, pressing the TV's button, he switched it to the news channel so that he could see what was happening in the world.

And hopefully distract himself a little.

Thanks to Yuuichi's constant chatter and the excellent stir-fry the two girls had made, the evening went rather quickly. Kumiko then decided to check on Eikichi for one last time before she announced that she was going to go home.

'I'll take you there,' Bunta said.

'No, thanks,' Kumiko declined, 'it's not far from here.'

'Your parents' house is…'

'I don't live with my parents anymore,' Kumiko said.

'You don't?' Yuuichi asked her.

'No,' Kumiko replied, 'so please don't worry, I'll be fine.'

'Kumiko,' Fuka said, 'let Bunta take you home. Even if it's close, it's still dangerous for a girl to walk by herself at this time of the evening, you never know what sort of people you might find.'

'That's right,' Yuuichi insisted, happy to have his wife's support.

Finding herself outnumbered, Kumiko let out a sigh and, looking at Bunta, she said:

'I don't want to cause you trouble, Fujiwara-san.'

'It's Bunta,' he said, 'and you're not causing me trouble.'

'Of course not,' Yuuichi affirmed, 'now, while you take her home, Fuka and I will get started in here, okay?'

'Alright,' Bunta replied. He then got up and went to grab his jacket. He was happy to see that Kumiko followed him out to the shop where she hurried to put her shoes and coat back on. She was ready before Bunta had the time to grab his car keys.

'We won't need those,' she said, 'it's only a five minute walk.'

'Ah, okay,' Bunta said putting the keys back onto the table.

Yuuichi and Fuka watched as the two of them stepped out of the house then, they exchanged a look which would have earned them a glare from Bunta, or possibly worse…

Meanwhile, Bunta and Kumiko walked while she led the way down the street. They were just beneath the new sign which indicated the start of the shopping district where the Fujiwara Tofu Shop was when Bunta found the courage to ask:

'If I ask you something, am I going to get an honest reply?'

Kumiko took a couple of steps forward before replying.

'It depends.'

'I want to know why you're helping me,' Bunta asked, 'don't get me wrong, I'm grateful of what you're doing and my uncle seems quite happy with the whole thing but, I need to know the reason why you're doing it.'

'You've grown to be quite cynical,' Kumiko observed.

'You haven't answered my question,' Bunta pointed out.

'I know,' Kumiko said. She then remained quiet.

'Are you going to?' Bunta asked her. He didn't really know why he was insisting so much but he felt like it was crucial he understood what was pushing Kumiko to be such an altruist. Unless she had some hidden agenda. That thought made him get rather angry.

'I don't think you want to hear my answer,' Kumiko finally said.

'Why don't you let me decide that?' Bunta asked her.

'Alright,' she said, she stopped walking forcing him to stop too, 'it's because of my sister.'

'Your sister?' Bunta asked her in disbelief, 'what are you talking about?'

'You wouldn't understand,' was her highly frustrating reply. This made Bunta wish he had let her walk back home by herself for, at this point, he more than suspected that something was fishy. Or maybe she was right and his recent experience with Midori had turned him into a bitter, cynical person.

'Forget it,' he mumbled.

He was about to start walking again when Kumiko spoke with a very small voice:

'I feel I owe you.'

'What?' Bunta asked her feeling more than a little puzzled.

'What my sister did to you was horrible,' she finally said, 'I still feel very guilty about it.'

'Are you serious?' he asked her, his voice loaded with disbelief.

'I knew you wouldn't understand,' she complained then, she started walking again.

'Wait,' he said closing the short distance she had managed to put between them, 'I'm sorry. You're right, I don't understand. Why would you feel guilty about something Seiko did?'

'I should have told you,' Kumiko said, 'if I had, you wouldn't have suffered as much as you did.'

Bunta didn't know what to say.

'I know it's not enough,' she continued, 'but when I saw you at the hospital and I knew what had happened to your uncle, I decided I wanted to help you in any way I could. I know it's selfish of me and that I'm not doing anything extraordinary or anything but…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted her, 'I'm not going to deny that what your sister did hurt me, a lot. But it was a long time ago and it seriously had nothing to do with you. If I had been in your place I would have done the same thing you did. You don't owe me anything.'

'But…'

'That said,' Bunta continued, 'I don't think Eikichi would be happy if you don't show up tomorrow so, as a favour to me, can you still come in tomorrow morning?'

'Of course I can,' Kumiko replied, 'I…'

'Promise me something,' Bunta interrupted her.

'What?' she asked.

'That you won't do any of this because you feel you owe me anything,' he said.

'But…'

'Because you _don't _owe me anything,' Bunta insisted, 'okay?'

Kumiko let out a sigh and, nodding once, she said:

'Okay.'

'You promise?' he asked.

'I promise,' she replied.

'Good,' Bunta said, 'now let's get you home.'

Later on that night, while he drove up Mt Akina, Bunta found that he had figured out a bit of the mystery which was Kumiko Mizuno. Surprisingly, despite the tough and sometimes detached attitude the girl favoured, the twenty year old girl was just a very innocent person. She was also awfully honest and that, to someone like Bunta, was most refreshing and it helped him understand the reason why she had been looked so troubled when she'd known that her older sister was lying to him. What he didn't understand was that she'd carried on feeling guilty for something close to five full years.

'That silly girl,' Bunta muttered affectionately.

The following days passed quite fast and, with Kumiko taking care of Eikichi and both Yuuichi and Fuka helping as much as they did, Bunta wasn't having as hard a time as he thought he would. Also, Eikichi's condition was improving much faster now that he was home.

'You seem to be in a good mood,' Matsuda commented when Bunta got onto the van.

'I am,' he said.

'I take your uncle is feeling heaps better,' the mechanic said.

'Yes, he is,' Bunta replied.

'That's good,' Matsuda said, 'so, you've never raced in Nishinihon, have you?'

'Nope,' Bunta replied, 'the Fuji Series didn't go that far south.'

'Don't worry, if you've mastered the big three, Nishinihon will be a piece of cake.'

'The big three?' Bunta asked.

'Motegi, Fuji and Suzuka,' Matsuda replied.

'Ah, I see,' Bunta said, 'but I'm looking forward to a new circuit. They do get boring after a while…'

Matsuda's lips twitched upwards. He even let out some sort of chuckle and, for some reason, Bunta felt privileged. He was sure no one had seen the mechanic as close to laughing as that. He should have taken a picture or, even better, film it with one of those Fujica 8mm cameras he'd seen on TV.

Since the drive was a very long one, they all took turns behind the wheel, even Bunta who actually enjoyed driving the van despite the fact it never got past eighty kilometres per hour. The reasonably slow speed allowed him to take a good look at the changing scenery.

'Matsuda-san, please wake up, we're almost there,' he said when many hours later they finally entered Hakata, one of the wards from the Fukuoka prefecture, in the eastern part of Kyushu, the southernmost island of the Japanese archipelago.

'Oh, look at that sea,' was the first thing Matsuda commented.

'It's great,' Bunta agreed, 'it's a pity we won't be able to go anywhere near it.'

Matsuda nodded twice.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a very familiar looking black and orange van. As it quickly approached them, Bunta felt his hands tightening around the steering wheel and his foot get itchy. It had been ages since the last time he'd felt like that in a non-race situation.

'Don't,' Matsuda said.

'What?' Bunta asked as innocently as possible.

'I know what you're thinking of doing,' the mechanic said, 'but leave it till the race, okay?'

'Oh, you're no fun,' Bunta complained.

'I'm sure you'll have plenty of that during this weekend,' Matsuda countered.

'Probably,' Bunta replied.

'You know what?' Matsuda said all of a sudden, 'I almost pity that Yamazaki.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'Because, unless I'm very much mistaken, you're planning on beating the pants off him.'

'You got that right, sir,' Bunta said.

For the second time, Matsuda let out a chuckle.

_To be continued…_


	63. Chapter Sixty Two

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty Two_

From his sitting position behind the wheel of his red Fairlady Z Bunta saw the black and orange RX3 driving down the pitlane. The current JTCC champion, Tetsu Yamazaki, was about to start his second and probably last stint in Saturday's practice session.

'Hey kid,' he heard Matsuda call him.

'Yes?' Bunta replied.

'You should go out now,' Matsuda said.

'No,' Bunta replied, 'not yet.'

'Eh? Why not?' a surprised Matsuda asked.

'It's too soon,' Bunta said, 'and I want to try something for the race without…public.'

'What are you talking about?' Matsuda said, 'the public is still going to…' he stopped talking in order to replay Bunta's words in his mind. He then remembered that Yamazaki was currently on the track and that made him connect the dots, 'ah, okay, I see what you mean.'

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'please let me know when he gets back in.'

'Sure,' Matsuda replied.

While he waited, Bunta closed his eyes and grabbing the steering wheel, replayed in his mind what he'd seen of the circuit during his first practice stint, slowing down in every corner, trying to decide if there was a different line he could take to make his time shorter.

He'd been very happy to see that he, the Z and the track understood each other rather well. To begin with, the track's rougher surface felt better than the other tracks. He couldn't explain the reason why but, to him, it made the Nishinihon Circuit feel less artificial than the rest and more like a mountain pass.

Then there was its rhythm. The track had very few straight sections and quite a lot of sharp corners with just a few fast, wide ones and a brake-killing chicane. It had a lot in common to one of his most favourite places on Earth: Mt Akina.

At long last, Matsuda gave Bunta the sign he'd been waiting for: Yamazaki was about to get back into the pitlane. Time for him to get out to the track.

With only had a handful of minutes before the marshals would close the track, Bunta didn't have all that much time but it was more than enough for him to do what he wanted. Thankfully, most of his opponents were in their pitboxes, which meant that, excepting a couple of other cars, he had the track to himself.

He didn't drive as fast as he could, instead, he chose to cruise along the tarmac, checking for what he'd seen earlier. It wasn't as good as in Mt Akina but, there, at the edge of some of the corners, he saw that the kerbs were rather low.

Bunta, making sure he really was on his own, veered his car towards the inside of the corner and, hooking his tyres with the kerb, he cleared the corner like he was on rails. He exited the turn with so much extra speed that he closed the gap between the two turns in nearly a quarter of a second less than he'd done before.

He spent the rest of his practice time checking which corners had the same kind of kerb, making sure he remembered them all so that, the instant he got back into the pitbox, he could write them down or, even better, draw a little map of the track so he could study it before the race.

'You look happy,' Sakamoto commented while Bunta was getting ready for the qualifying session.

'I am,' Bunta said.

'Any particular reason?' the older man asked.

'Not really,' Bunta replied, 'it's just that, for the first time in a long time, I somehow feel relaxed.'

'That's good,' Sakamoto said.

'I know,' Bunta added.

'Have you thought about my offer?' Sakamoto asked making an obvious effort to keep his tone casual.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'but I think I want to see what happens in this race first.'

'I understand,' Sakamoto said.

'Thanks,' Bunta replied.

A few minutes later, Bunta climbed into the car without giving himself time to think about the reasons why he was so relaxed about everything. In reality, he knew well that it was due to the fact that Midori and the Itachi were mostly out of the picture, Yuuichi and Fuka were helping him keep the shop running and Eikichi was being taken care of by Kumiko.

'Ah not good,' Bunta muttered while he cruised down the pitlane. Thinking of the nurse wasn't going to make him relaxed at all. To him, Kumiko and what he felt when he thought of her were still like an unsolved puzzle and, right now, he didn't have the time nor the disposition to think about it.

Forcing himself to push the thought to the back of his mind, he entered the track looking out for the much faster cars which were already crossing the finish line.

Six laps later, he decided to start his set of flying laps when, glancing at the rear view mirror, he saw the black and orange RX3. Yamazaki was right behind him and it didn't seem like he had any intentions of overtaking him.

'Have it your way,' Bunta said smiling dangerously.

He completed three full laps with the Mazda stuck to his Nissan's rear bumper when they entered one of the very sharp left-handers which had the lower kerb. Resisting the temptation to use that technique, Bunta kept on his ideal line when Yamazaki started his attack.

Pushing the front of his RX3 towards the inside of the corner, with nearly half a car outside the actual tarmac, Yamazaki found that Bunta was blocking the way. Then, just as he had predicted, Yamazaki veered towards the outside but Bunta was ready there too.

The two cars exited the corner following entirely different lines.

Not taking the bait, Bunta kept on driving following what he'd established was his ideal line when, all of a sudden, with both cars attacking a wide right-hander, he saw that Yamazaki had somehow managed to level his Mazda right by the Z's side.

'You wish,' Bunta said.

Firmly, he steered towards the inside of the corner, closing the already too narrow gap, forcing Yamazaki to pull back. Knowing better than to think his rival would give up, Bunta did something which, from an outsider's point of view, was nothing short of crazy:

Veering towards the outside, totally messing with his line, Bunta cut Yamazaki's second attempt, then, not happy with that, Bunta crossed the track to place himself back on his line and, in so doing, he forced Yamazaki to slam the RX3's brakes as to avoid a collision.

By the time the Mazda driver recovered, Bunta was already too far for him to try anything else.

A few laps later, Bunta checked the timing scoreboard to see that, while Yamazaki's lap time had beaten the track's record, Bunta's time was nearly a full second faster. He was, for the second time in a row, in pole.

'What was that?' Matsuda asked him when he got back in the pitbox.

'What?' Bunta asked innocently.

'That was a qualifying session,' Matsuda explained as patiently as he could, 'why did you have to…'

'Matsuda,' Sakamoto intervened, 'forget it. Those two gave a bit of a show. I bet Yamazaki's team manager is as happy as I am about the whole thing.'

'But Sakamoto-san…'

'Matsuda,' he repeated, 'I've told you before, haven't I? The show starts from the very first lap out during practice. If we left all the good stuff for the race only, the public would get bored and the sponsors wouldn't be happy. What Fujiwara did is good for business.'

Bunta lifted his eyebrows but chose to say nothing.

Good for business? He was just having fun…

He hadn't had the time to complete this thought when, just as it happened the last time, he found himself surrounded by the press who kept on firing one question after another. It was a good thing Yoshida had supplied with a few standard replies he could easily reuse with some careful rewording.

Thanks to that, his performance was top-notch.

It was a pity Yoshida wasn't there today, again, Bunta could not expect the Toyota designer to follow him all the way to Kyushu. After all, what he did for Bunta was very much a secret and if his bosses found out, Yoshida would have been in a lot of trouble.

'Let's go,' Sakamoto said right when the last photo reporter snapped one last picture of him.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied eager to get away.

'You seem to be getting used to this,' Sakamoto commented while they walked to where the vans were parked, 'if I didn't know otherwise, I'd think you're a seasoned pro.'

Bunta just smiled at that.

'But again,' Sakamoto continued, 'I think you're a natural born racer. It's only normal you find yourself in your element in here.'

Bunta still said nothing. While he enjoyed circuit racing, he seriously didn't think he was in 'his element' in here. If he had to think of what his element was, the only thing which came into his mind were Mt Akina's slopes and his 2000GT. Truth be told, he kind of missed street racing…

'Bunta?' he heard Sakamoto ask him.

'What?'

'Were you listening to what I was saying?'

'Yeah,' Bunta half-lied then, to change the topic, he said, 'the car felt really good today.'

'That's good,' Sakamoto said then, he added, 'are you alright? You looked kind of out of it.'

'I'm fine,' Bunta assured him.

'You're probably worried about your uncle,' Sakamoto concluded, 'why don't you call home when we'll get to the hotel, this way you'll feel at peace and will be able to give your best tomorrow.'

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'I'll do that.'

The whole Sakamoto Racing Team got to the hotel right before dinner-time. Matsuda announced he was going to take a bath and eat something in his room and the two mechanics said they'd do the same. Sakamoto said he was going to have dinner with a couple of team managers who happened to be friends with him.

'Do you want to come with me?' the manager asked him while they waited for the reception staff to give them the keys to their rooms.

'No thank you,' Bunta politely declined, 'I'll just be in my room watching TV.'

'Okay,' Sakamoto said, 'get well rested, okay?'

'Sure,' Bunta replied.

Grabbing the key to his room, he thought of going straight to it so that he could call home when, taking a look outside the hotel's hall, he saw that there was a park right next to it. Seeing that Sakamoto had already left and that the team's technical staff where nowhere to be seen, Bunta just stepped out of the hotel deciding to go for a walk instead.

Despite the fact that the sun was already setting, there still was plenty of light and, he hadn't gone too far into the park when he saw a very familiar figure sitting on one of the benches, throwing little pebbles into a nearby pond. Bunta was about to turn round when Yamazaki saw him.

'Hello there,' the older racer said, 'I didn't think we'd bump into each other in here, of all places.'

'Neither did I, to be honest,' Bunta replied then, as an afterthought, he added, 'I can leave if you want.'

'No,' Yamazaki said, 'it's okay. I don't mind the company.'

'So, what are you doing here?' Bunta asked him. He was still standing up in front of the older guy who had dropped the few stones he had in his hands. Instead, he stared at an undetermined point beyond the pond for a short while before looking back at Bunta. He then said:

'I've been thinking.'

'Ah,' Bunta said, not knowing what else to say. He really should have walked away…

'You know,' Yamazaki continued, 'I had fun today during the qualifying. It's been a while…'

'Thanks,' Bunta said, 'I…you know, I thought you'd be angry or something.'

'Angry?' Yamazaki asked looking surprised, 'at you?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, he scratched his cheek nervously.

Yamazaki laughed softly before looking at his feet. He then spoke as though as he was talking to himself.

'If only you had been here from the start of the season.'

'Why?' Bunta dared to ask.

'Maybe I would have changed my mind about retiring.'

'What?' Bunta nearly shouted, 'you're _retiring_?'

'Yeah,' Yamazaki replied looking at Bunta with a sad smile on his face, 'no one knows yet. Not even my team. Other than my wife, you're the only one who knows.'

'Wha…'

'To be honest,' Yamazaki said, 'I'm not even sure I'm doing the right thing telling you. I guess I needed to tell someone.'

'But…'

'Don't worry,' the older racer continued, 'I'll still do my best tomorrow. You can be sure of that.'

'Of course,' Bunta said.

'I don't want this to affect you in any way either,' Yamazaki said getting up, 'I would hate it if you thought you had to do me any favours.'

'What? I wouldn't…'

'I know,' Yamazaki interrupted him, 'like I said: if you had shown up sooner, I might have reconsidered.'

The older man was about to walk away from Bunta when, for some mysterious reason, he felt like he had to say something to Yamazaki.

'I wouldn't retire if I were you.'

'Why not?' Yamazaki asked curiously.

'I don't want to sound arrogant,' Bunta said and, for some reason, Yamazaki looked a tad sceptical. This made Bunta regret having said anything at all but, he had started so, he finished, 'I think you still have lots more to give to motorsports.'

'Yeah,' Yamazaki said, his sad smile returning to his face, 'you're probably right. But I'm thirty four and I'm getting tired. I might as well retire when I'm still on top.'

Bunta remained silent, not knowing what to say.

'You're still young. I'm sure you'll do great things and I'll be keeping an eye on what you do.'

'Yamazaki-san…'

'Don't worry,' he said, 'you might have had the upper hand today, but tomorrow, it'll be a different story.'

Seeing Yamazaki's determined expression made Bunta let out a chuckle. Now, that was more like the racer he had come to know and respect. For some unknown reason, he felt better seeing that fire in Yamazaki's eyes was very much alive.

'I'll do my very best too,' Bunta promised.

'I'm sure you will,' Yamazaki said, 'now, I'll better leave you to your thoughts. I hope you sort them out too.'

With that, the older racer left, walking slowly towards the park's entrance. Bunta observed him for a while then, he took a seat on the bench Yamazaki had just vacated. There, he let himself relax and think about what he wanted to do with his career.

The next day, Bunta woke up to the sound of his room's phone ringing.

'Hello?' he mumbled sleepily.

'Good morning Fujiwara-san, this is your wake up call.'

'Ah, thanks,' he muttered. He then hung up the phone and stretched his sleepy body carefully before getting up from his bed. He then remembered that he hadn't called home like he'd promised Sakamoto. In fact, after spending a number of hours sitting by himself in the park, he'd gone straight to bed.

He hadn't even taken a bath.

'Oh well,' he said deciding he'd just take a quick shower now.

Fifteen minutes later, he joined his team at the breakfast room. Having skipped dinner, he was positively starving so he served himself double portions of nearly everything which was on offer at the western-style buffet.

'Hungry, aren't we?' Matsuda commented.

'Ravenous,' Bunta confessed with his trademark smirk.

'It's not good eating too much before the race,' Matsuda reminded him.

'I know, I know,' Bunta said, 'don't worry, I'll be fine.'

'Leave the kid alone,' Sakamoto said, 'it's a good thing that he's hungry. It means he's not nervous.'

Bunta nodded once, more to acknowledge his team manager than to agree with him. It was true that he wasn't particularly tense about the race but, replaying his conversation with Yamazaki, he could not help but to think that, somehow, somewhere in his mind, he had already made his mind up about Sakamoto's offer.

Now he just had to find a good way to tell him.

When they left the hotel, they heard Matsuda swear.

'What…' one of the mechanics started.

'It's going to rain,' Sakamoto explained pointing at the sky. It was mostly bright blue but, coming from the northeast, they saw some lead coloured clouds which, indeed, threatened a downpour.

'They didn't mention it in the weather report,' Matsuda complained.

'Hey,' Sakamoto said, 'this is southern Kyushu, these things happen and you know that.'

'I do,' Matsuda conceded, 'but now we'll have to change the car's settings.'

'Why?' Bunta asked him.

'What do you mean "why?", if it rains, the current settings will be useless.'

'They're fine the way they are,' Bunta insisted, 'please don't change anything.'

'Are you sure about that?' Matsuda asked him.

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

Matsuda glanced at Sakamoto for a brief instant who nodded once, then he looked back at Bunta and, nodding too, he said:

'Okay, I guess you know what you're doing.'

'I do,' Bunta said.

As expected, by the time they got to the track, the previously clear sky had been covered by a thick layer of very dark clouds and, soon enough, the first fat drops of rain started falling onto the ground, getting everything wet fairly quickly. For this reason, Bunta kept himself under cover inside the Sakamoto's pitbox.

'Nice day, huh?' Bunta heard a very well known voice coming from behind him.

'Yoshida-san! What are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting or something.'

'I ran away,' the Toyota designer confessed then, seeing Bunta's puzzled expression, he said, 'it got cancelled. Katayama's team still has some work to complete before we meet and he told me to come here.'

'That's brilliant,' Bunta said, 'I needed to ask you something.'

'What is it?' Yoshida asked.

'It can wait till after the race,' Bunta muttered acutely aware that Matsuda was well within hearing range. Yoshida just nodded and then went to greet Sakamoto who was currently talking to one of the circuit's marshals. Meanwhile, Bunta got his helmet and gloves and made his way to the car.

'Make sure you dry the soles of your boots properly,' Matsuda said pointing at a brown towel which was placed right by the driver's door. Obediently, Bunta wiped the soles of his driving boots onto the fuzzy fabric then sat down on the bucket seat and started doing up his seatbelt.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Bunta turned on the engine. It still sounded as good as it did the previous day, he sat there, eyes closed, enjoying the sound while he did his usual pre-race breathing exercises.

'Sorry to interrupt,' Matsuda said, 'the marshals just decided that the race's length will be cut short. It'll be twenty laps instead of twenty five. We should get some of the petrol out of the tank.'

'No,' Bunta interrupted him, 'let's leave it like it is. I want to see how the car feels on the track, besides, the extra weight will probably be useful at the start. The track's so wet that traction will be everything, don't you agree?'

'I do,' Matsuda conceded.

'I'll see you in at the grid,' Bunta said and, with that, he released the handbrake, pressed the clutch and entered the first gear. An instant later, he was leading the long queue of cars which were getting ready to go to their positions on the grid.

Bunta saw Yamazaki's Mazda a few cars behind his.

They soon were side by side at the grid and, from his window, he tried to take a look at Yamazaki. It was raining too hard to be sure but, for some reason, he thought the older racer was also trying to see him. He tried hard not to think of the fact that, if what Yamazaki had told him was true, this could very well be the last time they started a race side-by-side.

Which was too bad, Bunta thought.

Shaking the thought off, he decided to concentrate on the race for, judging by the poor visibility, he would need every bit of his driving skills just to keep the car on the tarmac.

Five minutes later, the grid cleared and instead of the usual marshal with a flag, the drivers saw the safety car flashing its headlights to indicate that the procedure was complete and that the first round of this race could start. A few seconds later, the twenty nine cars which had qualified for the race, led by Bunta's red Fairlady Z, took off for the warm up lap.

The track, just as Bunta had predicted, was soaked with water and, in some parts, there were puddles which covered quite large parts of the tarmac, meaning that not even the highly efficient draining system was capable of dealing with the heavy rain.

It didn't matter to Bunta. After all, Mt Akina got even worse when it rained.

Exactly a minute later, Bunta was back on the pole position, ready to block Yamazaki's Mazda as well as the other twenty seven cars which were behind the pair. Letting out a long breath, he adjusted the grip on the steering wheel and, an instant later, he felt his hands and feet moving on their own.

The race had started.

With surprising ease, Bunta managed to keep his position and, lap after lap, he forced himself not to look at the rear view mirror. Instead, he focused on his footwork since it was crucial, now more than ever, to have a pinpoint precision when it came to choosing the braking points.

His peace didn't really last too long and, in the sixth lap out of twenty, Yamazaki staged the first of what would be a long series of attacks. Bunta had been expecting it but it didn't really make it any easier when, at the exit of one of the wide right-handers, he saw the black and orange Mazda right by his side.

'As if…'

Bunta pressed the accelerator knowing that the car still had some speed left. He had the satisfaction of leaving the Mazda behind. He knew that it was temporary though and, as they both approached the circuit's main chicane, Bunta crossed the tarmac so that Yamazaki lost the aerodynamic advantage he'd gained by being behind Bunta's car.

With that done, Bunta pressed the pedal and, entering the chicane at a suicidal speed, he managed to put some distance between Yamazaki's car and his Nissan. Needless to say, that wasn't good enough and, by the time he exited the chicane, the Mazda was once again grazing the Z's rear bumper.

'He sure is insistent,' an amused Bunta muttered.

Both cars seemed engaged in some sort of dance in which the Mazda would close the distance, try to overtake the Nissan, only for the Nissan to pull away at the last possible minute, forcing the Mazda to get back behind the Nissan and, without realising it, they made it to the penultimate lap.

Somehow, Bunta had managed to keep his first position throughout the race but there were two things which were nagging at him: one was the fact that Yamazaki was still behind him and he couldn't shake him off no matter what he did.

He could have used the kerbs to give himself more traction and get away from him but that would have wrecked his plans for the second round of the race. Then he'd be stuck in the middle of the grid due to the silly rule which reversed the positions and he would really need the extra speed.

For now, he would really have to do his best to keep Yamazaki behind him.

The second thing which worried him happened right when there were less than one and a half laps to go. He was exiting the chicane, with Yamazaki following him in a most stubborn way when, right in front of him, he saw an almost carbon copy of the mess that had happened during the previous race:

A Honda had just been sandwiched by two Mitsubishis.

The situation would have been exciting and almost funny if it wasn't because Bunta saw that there were only two ways to go through the pile up. One was to go wide into the grass which, being as slippery as it surely was would probably mean losing a lot of grip. The other one…

'It's now or never,' Bunta said to himself.

Steeling himself, he nearly closed his eyes and, flooring the accelerator, he pushed his way into the impossibly narrow gap left in between one of the Mitsubishis and the Honda. He prayed hard, hoping that the inertia would keep the cars sliding in the same exact direction for the few instants Bunta needed to get passed them.

Otherwise, his Nissan would become part of the sandwich.

Holding his breath, he didn't dare to look at anywhere but ahead of the very wet windscreen and, a few moments later, he found himself free of the mess. He still didn't know how he'd done it, but he had made it out of it in one piece.

'Phew,' he sighed shakily.

Being as relieved as he was, it took him a while to notice it and it wasn't until he entered the sharp left-hander which followed the chicane that he realised that there was no one behind his Nissan.

Yamazaki's Mazda was gone.

_To be continued…_


	64. Chapter Sixty Three

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty Three_

Bunta completed the first round of the race in a state of confusion which was rather anticlimactic after the huge adrenaline rush he'd felt while driving through a crash. Not knowing had had happened to Yamazaki, he kept looking at the rear view mirror, trying to see if he could spot the black and orange Mazda amidst the downpour.

He couldn't.

He only found out what had happened once he made it to the box where, as it was to be expected, he got a very warm welcome from both Sakamoto and Yoshida and the team's mechanics. Stoic Matsuda was dangerously close to smiling.

'Well done!' the team manager exclaimed, patting him on the back the instant Bunta climbed out of the car.

'What happened to Yamazaki?' he asked urgently.

'He crashed,' Yoshida replied.

'What? Where? How?' Bunta asked, firing the questions as though as he were a machine gun.

'He tried to follow you but the Honda crashed against him sending him to the wall.

'Wall? What wall?' Bunta asked and that made everyone stare at him.

'You didn't see the wall?' Sakamoto asked him, 'you came _this_ close to it when you left the crash behind,' he added using his thumb and index finger to indicate something like five centimetres.

'Where were you looking at?' Yoshida asked, half amused half curious.

'The grass,' Bunta replied feeling suddenly self-conscious.

'The grass?' Matsuda repeated, 'why?'

'I'm not sure,' Bunta admitted, 'I…'

'It doesn't matter,' Sakamoto said, 'he's won the round and, by the looks of it, Yamazaki's out of the race.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked getting very serious.

'Unless his mechanics perform a miracle,' Matsuda explained, 'there's no way they can fix the car in time for the…'

Bunta didn't wait for the chief mechanic to finish the sentence. Instead, he ran towards the box where Yamazaki's mechanics were waiting for the car to be towed in all the way from the crash site.

'He's going to be able to race, isn't he?' he asked to the first person he found. The guy was dressed in a black and orange uniform so he had to be a member of Yamazaki's team.

'We're not sure,' he said, 'we have to take a look at the car first.'

'You have to make it happen,' Bunta insisted, 'I…'

'Fujiwara,' he heard Yamazaki's voice coming from behind him. Whirling around, he saw the older racer getting out of a towing track which was also carrying the damaged Mazda, 'what are you doing in here?'

'You need to race,' Bunta said, 'if your mechanics can't…'

'Hey,' Yamazaki interrupted him, 'I know how you feel but there's nothing we can do. I'm pretty sure I've bent part of the front axle and the collision has also damaged the suspension beyond repair. Even if we have the parts, there isn't enough time.'

'But…'

'Fujiwara,' Yamazaki said, 'I'm not your only rival here. There are other drivers who want to make sure you don't come first in the second round. You shouldn't underestimate them.'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'but…'

'Don't worry,' Yamazaki said, 'we still have Suzuka, remember?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied with a half-whisper.

'I'll beat you there,' Yamazaki said, 'you can be sure about that.'

With that, he walked into his pitbox and Bunta saw him doing something which impressed him beyond anything the older racer could have done on the track: with a deep bow, he apologised to every member of his team's staff, thanking them for the hard work.

'You really are a good guy,' Bunta heard Sakamoto say.

'I'm nothing compared to him,' Bunta muttered. But he would be. One day, he'd be the kind of racer who would not be ashamed to say sorry in the very few times he messed things up. To think that such a great racer, no, such a great person was going to retire saddened Bunta beyond belief.

'You're okay?' Yoshida asked him once Bunta made it back to his pitbox.

'Kind of,' he replied.

'Hey,' Yoshida said, 'you still have the second round, don't forget that.'

'Don't worry,' Bunta said resolutely, 'with Yamazaki out of the picture, the race is mine.'

Bunta got out to the track for the start of the second round taking the tenth position in the grid when the rain started clearing a little. It still was spitting which mean the track was very much as wet as it had been during the first part of the race but Bunta had already decided to use the gutter run from the very first lap.

Overtaking one car after the other, Bunta found himself in second place with only seven laps to go. In front of him, he had the light grey Nissan which he'd also seen in the previous race. Its driver was probably one of the best in the grid but he wasn't anywhere near as good as Yamazaki.

Getting right behind it, he waited till they were about to enter one of the low-kerbed corners when Bunta, veering towards the inside, used the extra traction to pass the Nissan. Then, completing the corner, he exited in front effectively claiming the first position.

He knew that the light grey Nissan would not concede victory so easily so he expected the attack which came next: right at the start of one of the few high-speed corners, Bunta saw that the Nissan went wide, taking the outside of the corner, Bunta refused to take the bait and, instead of closing the Nissan's line with his car, he decided to take the inside.

Hooking his tyres to the low kerb, he cruised along the corner seeing that the other Nissan was keeping level with his car. Bunta was about to exit the corner when, all of a sudden, he felt the car lose all of its grip.

He only had the time to register that he was passing the area where Yamazaki, the Honda and the two Mitsubishis had crashed when his car crossed the entire surface of the track on its own. It was unbelievable that with this much rain there would still be some oil left on the track.

A lesser driver would have probably lost it but, Bunta somehow kept his cool and before he and his Z were sent flying onto the grass, he shifted gears, adjusted his pedal work and gambled it all on his skills.

It paid off for, right at that instant, he managed to get the car back under his control and, the best thing was that the light grey Nissan had somehow remained behind.

That had been too close for comfort.

A few laps later, he had put enough distance between his Nissan and the light grey one, ensuring him enough peace of mind to cross the finish line allowing himself one little luxury: as he passed the pitlane's wall, he tilted the car performing a beautiful, two wheeled ski drift.

In the rain!

'That guy is crazier than I thought,' Yoshida heard Yamazaki comment amusedly. He was surprised to find Bunta's opponent standing outside the Sakamoto Team's pitbox but, instead of voicing that, he just said:

'You have no idea.'

A few minutes later, Bunta got back into the pitlane, only that, this time, he wasn't allowed to go back into his team's pitbox. Instead, he was signalled to drive his car beneath the podium so that the reporters could take pictures of it.

'Fujiwara,' Sakamoto said, it was clear that the team manager was having trouble being his usual cool self, 'I…I just don't know what to say other than thank you.'

'I'm…'

He didn't finish the sentence for the two junior mechanics just came and hugged him to the suffocation point. It was a good thing Matsuda came to rescue him, telling the two younger guys off for not letting their driver breathe.

'Well done kid,' he just said and, once again, his lips twitched upwards.

'That was a fantastic race,' Yoshida added.

'Not really,' Bunta started, 'if Yamazaki…'

'Rubbish,' the man himself said, 'I'm not sure I would have made that much of a difference with that trick of yours. You can tell me about it some other time but, right now it's your win, go and enjoy it.'

'Okay,' Bunta said. Then, he got swept by the organisation and, without really understanding what was going on, he found himself on the top of the podium, with two pretty girls giving him a kiss on both of his cheeks.

He really could get used to this!

The next day, after having spent the whole evening celebrating Sakamoto Racing Team's first victory, everyone got up much later than the scheduled departure time but it didn't matter. Even Yoshida was still around and Bunta found him sitting by himself at one of the breakfast tables.

'Good morning,' the Toyota designer said.

'Hi,' Bunta replied.

'Slept well?'

'Kind of,' Bunta replied, 'I don't think I should have drunk all that much.'

'Hey, it was your first JTCC win, you deserved it.'

'Yeah, but the hangover is killing me now,' Bunta complained.

'Eat something light and get heaps of water,' Yoshida advised, 'you'll feel better.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'but before I do that…'

'Yes,' Yoshida interrupted him, 'I've been wondering what you wanted to ask me.'

'Sakamoto-san has asked me to drive for him next year,' Bunta said.

'I know,' Yoshida said, 'he told me he would ask you.'

'Ah,' Bunta gasped.

'And you want me to tell you what you should do,' Yoshida concluded.

'Not really,' Bunta said and that took Yoshida slightly aback, 'I mean, I did want to ask you but I think I've figured that out by myself.'

'So, what do you want to do?' Yoshida asked, the guy kept an admirably neutral tone of voice.

'I'm very grateful of his offer,' Bunta said, 'and yesterday was a great experience which I would love to repeat sometime soon but, to be honest, I learned something that has helped me make my mind up. I can't tell you what it is because it's kind of a secret, I guess…'

'I don't need to know, don't worry,' Yoshida said.

'Okay,' Bunta said.

'So, you want to carry on with our plans then,' Yoshida asked.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'but I don't know how to tell Sakamoto-san. He's given me a really good chance and…'

'Bunta,' Yoshida said, 'you have done him a huge favour too. His sponsors were very happy to get so much good publicity and winning a JTCC race is always a huge event for any team. He'll probably have to select his sponsors next year, regardless if you're there or not.'

'I know that,' Bunta said.

'Then don't get scrupulous about it,' Yoshida said, 'I know I'm being pretty selfish because it's in my own interest that you get back to racing with a Toyota but, in all honesty, I think circuit racing isn't what you need.'

'I know that too,' Bunta repeated.

'You do?' Yoshida asked him sounding surprised.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'I mean, it's fun and all but, I prefer driving on real roads. I do miss street racing and I think that I'll enjoy rallying more.'

'If what you fear is that you'll somehow upset Sakamoto-san,' Yoshida suggested, 'then let me handle the whole thing.'

'No thanks,' Bunta declined, 'I want to do this myself.'

'I knew you would say that,' Yoshida said with a proud grin in his face, 'when are you going to do it?'

'I don't know yet,' Bunta replied, 'I might wait till after the next race. He's way too happy right now…'

Yoshida let out a chuckle and Bunta went to scratch his cheek. That's how the Sakamoto Racing Team found them when they finally got into the hotel's breakfast room. Poor Matsuda looked like he too was nursing a sore head so everyone decided to be very, very quiet.

Bunta didn't get back to Shibukawa until later on that evening and, instead of finding a more or less quiet house, he found out that his uncle had invited quite a few people over, including Nitta-san, half of the Akina Firebolts, Yuuichi and his wife Fuka and, for some reason, Kumiko Mizuno.

'Congratulations,' she told him after waiting for everyone to finish patting him on the head, hugging him and shaking hands with him.

'I didn't know you were into racing,' Bunta commented.

'I'm not, I'm just here because Eikichi-san insisted to be out of bed and I want to keep an eye on him,' she replied and, with that, she went to join Fuka in the kitchen to see if she could do anything to help. He found himself following her with his eyes, reminding himself that he still had to figure out a few things.

'You like her,' he heard Yuuichi say.

Bunta got so startled he nearly dropped the glass of beer he had in his hand.

'No I don't,' he said all-too-vehemently.

'Yes you do,' Yuuichi insisted, 'you just won't admit it.'

'Look,' Bunta said, 'she's Seiko's little sister.'

'So?' Yuuichi asked totally failing to see the point.

'It's gross,' Bunta replied.

'Not really,' Yuuichi said.

'It is,' Bunta insisted.

'I don't think so,' Yuuichi countered stubbornly.

'I just got out of a relationship which ended very nastily,' Bunta reminded his best friend, 'I don't want to get involved with any girl anytime soon.'

'I can understand that,' Yuuichi said.

'Good,' Bunta said taking a gulp of his beer.

'But you still like her,' Yuuichi said. In his haste to deny such preposterous accusation, Bunta nearly chocked himself. A highly amused Yuuichi patted him on his back until, a few long seconds later, Bunta managed to get some air back into his lungs.

'You're a bastard,' Bunta wheezed.

'Yeah, yeah,' Yuuichi laughed, 'and you're so in denial that you're _almost_ convincing me.'

'Yuuichi…'

'I wonder what Fuka's doing,' his best friend said. He then walked away from Bunta leaving him immersed in his thoughts. He was so into it that he failed to see Eikichi making his way towards him. The older man was still very weak but at least he was back on his feet.

'That was a good race,' he commented.

'Yeah,' Bunta said.

'What you did there, when those three cars crashed, was very brave,' Eikichi said, 'I'm proud of you.'

'You were watching that too?' Bunta asked suddenly worried.

'Of course,' Eikichi said.

'But…'

'Hey,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'I'm not so bad that I can't watch a race, especially one of these modern ones. Heck you guys had so many crashes and no one even got injured. Back in my days…'

'Eikichi,' Bunta interrupted, 'Takashi nearly killed himself, remember?'

'Yeah,' he replied, 'but that was because he got careless. Cars nowadays are getting to be so much safer than they used to be. Also, the tracks are designed much better, which means that there are less chances of having a bad crash.'

'If I didn't know better,' Bunta said with a cheeky grin, 'I would think you're sorry about that.'

Eikichi looked at him and, shaking his head he said:

'I'm not sorry, I'm worried.'

'What about?' Bunta asked.

'About the fact that these drivers don't respect their rides as much as they should.'

'Oh they do,' Bunta countered, 'at least, I do.'

'Which is why I wasn't worried when I watched you race,' Eikichi concluded, 'at any rate,' he continued, 'you still haven't done what you wanted to do. You still haven't beaten that Yamazaki.'

'I know,' Bunta said.

'You still have one more race to go,' Eikichi said.

'I know,' Bunta repeated.

'And, after that?' Eikichi asked, 'are you still thinking of rallying?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'if that's okay with you.'

'With me?' Eikichi said, 'of course it is. I've never had anything against you racing, have I?'

'No, you haven't,' Bunta replied, 'is just that…'

'I'll be fine,' Eikichi said, 'Kumi-chan is taking so much care of me that I think I'll be back to normal in no time.'

'Don't push it,' Bunta warned him.

'Oh, don't worry,' he assured him, 'it's not like Kumi-chan lets me do that much. I'm only here tonight because you've won a JTCC race. She's such a great girl but, she's as stubborn as a mule when she wants to be.'

Bunta observed his uncle with curiosity. He had known the man for a really long time by now but he'd never seen him displaying so much affection when talking about someone, not even when he'd talked about Miyoko. It made him wonder if…

No way.

There was no way his uncle would…

'What are you thinking about?' Eikichi interrupted him.

'Nothing,' was his all-too-quick answer.

'You know,' Eikichi said, 'I overheard a conversation between that Yuuichi brat and his wife.'

'You did?' Bunta asked.

'Yuuichi seems to think you like Kumi-chan,' Eikichi said. Bunta had his mouth open to protest when his uncle continued, 'I would hate to think he's right.'

'Why?' Bunta couldn't help but to ask.

'Because Kumi-chan is a great girl.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Bunta asked. He didn't know whether to feel offended or shocked.

'Look,' Eikichi said, 'I know that, sooner or later, you'll find yourself a nice girl to be with. I just hope it isn't her. She's been through enough as it is.'

'What do you mean?' a now concerned Bunta asked.

'That's none of your business,' Eikichi replied.

'Eikichi…'

'Hey Bunta!' Masashi came interrupting him, 'don't just sit here with your uncle, come and tell us all about the race…'

A couple of hours later, the only people left in the house were Yuuichi, his wife and Bunta. Kumiko was upstairs helping Eikichi get in bed as well as making sure he took his medicine. Bunta was still annoyed at his uncle for what the old man had told him about Kumiko.

'What's wrong with you?' Fuka asked him while he threw one of the empty beer bottles into the bin with a tad more energy than it was really necessary.

'Nothing,' he replied.

'Okay,' Fuka said amusedly, 'just try not to smash all the bottles, okay?'

With that, she left him there so that she could go and sit with her husband who was currently watching baseball news. Not really wanting the company, Bunta busied himself with the kitchen so that he could do some much needed thinking.

Less than ten minutes later, he glanced up at the ceiling when he heard Eikichi's bedroom door close. He knew that Kumiko was probably going to come downstairs any moment and that made him feel somewhat panicky.

'Is he sleeping?' he heard Fuka ask while Yuuichi turned the TV down significantly.

'Yes,' Kumiko replied softly, 'I'm going to go home now.'

'Bunta will walk you there,' Yuuichi said, 'Bunta, you can make sure she gets back home safely, can't you?'

Bunta was about to say that he could when he remembered is uncle's warning.

'I'll wait for you at the door,' Kumiko said.

She then went to get her shoes and her brown coat. Only then Bunta noticed that she wasn't wearing her uniform, instead, she had a beige knee-length skirt and a soft looking dark brown jumper. He didn't know how he'd missed something like that.

She looked really cute.

'Oh crap,' he muttered to himself.

Yuuichi was right. And he was in _big_ trouble.

'I'm ready,' he heard Kumiko say and that took him out of his reverie.

'Okay,' he said following her out onto the shop's working area. This time, he didn't miss the exchange between Yuuichi and Fuka and, for some reason, he felt like beating the crap out of Yuuichi, if only so that he could release the tension he was suddenly feeling.

'Take your time,' Yuuichi had the cheek to say clearly unaware of Bunta's thoughts.

'Yes, no need to rush,' an obviously amused Fuka added, 'we'll get started in here.'

It really took all of Bunta's self-control not to follow his instincts and, instead of punching Yuuichi's smile out of his face, he decided to grab his jacket so that he could get out of the house as fast as humanly possible.

'You have such great friends,' Kumiko commented on their way to her small apartment.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'too good,' he then added almost inaudibly.

'What was that?' Kumiko asked him.

'Nothing,' Bunta replied, 'listen, my uncle said that you've been into some trouble.'

'Did he?' she asked keeping an even tone of voice.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'he didn't get specific but if there's anything I can help you with, please let me know.'

'No thanks,' Kumiko said.

'Are you sure?' Bunta asked, 'I mean, I don't mind.'

'I'm sure you don't,' Kumiko said, 'but you, of all people, should really stay out of it.'

'Hey,' Bunta protested, 'what's that supposed to mean?'

'It's nothing personal,' Kumiko assured him, 'it's just something to do with my father.'

'Your father?'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied.

'He's not trying to get you married to someone, is he?' Bunta asked half-jokingly.

'Yes, that's what he's trying to do,' Kumiko replied gravely.

'What?' Bunta asked. He even stopped walking forcing her to stop too.

'It's okay,' Kumiko said, 'I'll never accept.'

'Is that why you're living by yourself?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Kumiko replied.

'No offence or anything,' Bunta started, 'but if my memory doesn't fail me, you didn't seem to be against arranged marriages. In fact, you seemed quite in favour of them.'

'That was only in my sister's case,' Kumiko said.

'Isn't that a tad hypocritical?' Bunta asked her.

'No,' Kumiko replied, 'I'm not my sister.'

'I've noticed,' Bunta could not help but to say.

'What do you mean by that?' Kumiko asked raising her voice a little.

'Nothing…I…'

'Please tell me that what the Tachibana said about you liking me is not true,' Kumiko said all of a sudden.

'Did they tell you that?' Bunta asked. He was amazed that he was able to keep such a cool tone of voice.

'No, they didn't,' Kumiko replied, 'I heard them discussing it last night.'

'Those two have an overactive imagination,' Bunta commented as casually as he could.

'So, it's not true, is it?' Kumiko insisted. It seemed like it was crucial to her to assert whether Bunta fancied her or not. That made Bunta misunderstand and, getting a little too daring, he smirked and said:

'What if it is?'

Kumiko's expression wasn't the one he expected to see. Instead of looking shy or pleased or even happy about the possibility of being the object of Bunta's affection, she looked positively terrified, as though as it was the worst thing which could happen to her.

'It's not true,' he spat, 'I don't like you, at least not in _that_ way, okay?'

'Seriously?' she asked looking hopeful.

'Yeah,' he lied.

'Oh, what a relief,' she then said, 'because, to be honest, you're the very last guy I would want to be with.'

Bunta felt like he'd just been punched on his stomach but, making a titanic effort, he managed to laugh it off and said:

'Let's get you home, okay?'

'Sure,' Kumiko replied and started walking. Bunta waited till she was a couple of steps ahead to drop the act. He frowned and started following her, trying to force himself to think about how he'd felt when winning his first JTCC race hoping it would help him feel better.

_To be continued…_


	65. Chapter Sixty Four

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty Four_

For the first time in goodness knew how long, Bunta found himself cruising down Mt Akina's pass onboard his 2000GT for no other reason than the fact that he felt like it. He had just replaced the car's tyres with winter ones and was enjoying the extra grip they afforded.

It hadn't even been a full week since his first JTCC victory but it seemed like the event had been covered by every major newspapers and even a few sports TV shows however, Bunta was barely aware of the whole thing for he had his mind otherwise occupied.

Kumiko.

It still hurt him to think of the brutally honest way in which she had rejected any possible feelings Bunta might have had for her and, remembering her relieved face when he'd lied denying any romantic notions towards her made him feel rather insulted.

He knew that Kumiko had never been his number one fan but, from that to hearing her say that he was the very last man on Earth she'd want to be with there was a big difference. The most shocking part was that she hadn't even sounded full of herself when she'd said that.

She was unbelievable.

Bunta was driving past the ice rink when, following a whim, decided to pull over so he could stop the car and get out of it. He then walked towards a nearby guardrail and, sitting down giving his back to the road, he stared at the darkness of the forest.

Taking a deep breath in, he welcomed the cold air which made his head feel clearer and, since it was pointless to postpone it any further, he started thinking of what he could do with his newfound attraction towards Kumiko since it really didn't make any sense.

To begin with, she simply wasn't what he thought was his type.

Looking back at his previous relationships he noticed that both Seiko and Midori had a lot in common: they were older than him, incredibly sexy with such a sunny personality that made them stand out regardless of where they were. They were also less than honest, often childish and prone to play mind-games with him.

Kumiko was the opposite in every possible way. At barely twenty, she was three and a half years younger than he was and even though she was rather cute, she was far from being as womanly as her sister had been at her age. She was also far too serious for her own good and often got lost in her own little world.

That said, Bunta was sure that she would never ever lie to him.

She would never pretend to be pregnant in order for him to marry her and she had been very honest about the fact that her father, once again, was trying to get her married just like he'd done with Seiko. However, unlike what her older sister had done, Kumiko was obviously resisting the idea the best way she could.

That was another thing he liked about her: she could take care of herself.

After being with such high maintenance women, he really found attractive the possibility of being with someone with whom he could establish a balanced partnership, just like the one Yuuichi and Fuka had.

Bunta would never admit it but he was really jealous of his best friend. Even after nearly six years together, those two still looked and sometimes behaved as though as they were in their first month of courtship. It was nearly sickening but it made him realise something very important:

He was lonely.

Kicking a pebble out of his way, Bunta got up and started making his way back to the car. He hadn't really done all the thinking he wanted to do but he knew it was enough for him to make the kind of rational decision he needed to make.

All things considered, Eikichi's warning, Kumiko's reaction and the fact that it hadn't been half a year since he'd annulled his marriage with Midori, the only thing which made sense was to forget about his feelings for Kumiko and to concentrate on his racing career.

'We're a good team, aren't we?' he said talking to the 2000GT's steering wheel.

Yes. He had his car and even though he'd just won a major racing event, he still had lots more to work on if he wanted to make it to true professionalism. He really couldn't afford to waste time or efforts trying to get Kumiko to reciprocate his feelings, even more so when she was so obviously reluctant to do so.

He had racing and that was more than enough.

With that settled, he decided to make it back as quickly as possible so, forgetting about his original intentions to just take things easy, he just dashed down, finding that the sudden adrenaline rush was exactly what he needed to do what he had to do next.

Once at the bottom of the pass, instead of driving straight towards the shop, he took a detour and went to the Tachibana's petrol station. There, he saw his best friend Yuuichi.

'Hey,' he said, 'do you need any petrol?'

'No,' Bunta replied climbing out of the 2000GT, 'I'm here to ask you for a favour.'

'What do you need?' Yuuichi asked looking, as usual, eager to do anything for his best friend.

'From now on,' Bunta said as casually as he could, 'please stay out of my love life or lack of thereof.'

'W-what?' a shocked Yuuichi asked, 'what did I…'

'Kumiko overheard you and Fuka talking about what you thought I feel for her,' Bunta explained.

'Oh,' Yuuichi gasped, 'I'm…I'm sorry.'

'Yeah well,' Bunta said, 'it doesn't really matter because, right now, I don't want a relationship. I'm perfectly happy the way I am and I would appreciate it if you didn't interfere. You think you can do that?'

'Of course,' Yuuichi hurried to reply.

'Good,' Bunta said.

'Will you just tell me one thing?' Yuuichi asked cautiously.

'It depends,' Bunta replied.

Yuuichi nodded to that then, taking a deep breath, he bravely asked:

'How do you really feel about Kumiko?'

'That's irrelevant,' Bunta replied. He looked at some point down the road and, with a small smile, he said trying to sound as carefree as he could, 'it's not like she'll ever like me anyway,' he then glanced back at him and said, 'besides, I told you, didn't I? I'm happy the way I am.'

With that, he saluted Yuuichi and, climbing back into his car, he drove it out of the petrol station in his usual crazy way. Yuuichi observed the whole manoeuvre while he shook his head in disbelief. It was the first time he'd seen his best friend being so insecure and, to Yuuichi, that could only mean one thing:

Bunta was in love.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he had never seen Bunta acting like that, not with Seiko and much less with Midori. Thinking about Bunta's first two relationships made Yuuichi realise something which made him burst out laughing.

'What's so funny?' his father asked him.

'Nothing,' a highly amused Yuuichi replied.

Sometime later, back in their home while they ate dinner, Yuuichi explained his theory to his wife and, to his utmost surprise he found out that Fuka had already come up with the very same conclusion he had.

'Of course he's scared,' she said, 'he's never done the chasing before, has he?'

'Not as far as I know,' Yuuichi conceded.

'Seiko already fancied him even before they started dating so he didn't have to do much to go out with her and…well…Midori…we both know that she practically raped him.'

'Fuka!' Yuuichi exclaimed scandalised.

'What?' the girl said, 'it's true and you know it.'

'Yeah but…'

'Anyway,' Fuka interrupted him, 'I think it's the first time Bunta likes someone who doesn't like him back and now, it's only natural that he doesn't know what to do.'

Yuuichi nodded to that.

'What we need to do,' Fuka continued, 'is to…'

'No, wait,' Yuuichi said firmly, 'we have to stay out of this.'

'Why?' Fuka asked him, sounding surprised, 'I thought you…'

'I can't,' Yuuichi explained shaking his head, 'I kind of promised Bunta that I wouldn't interfere.'

'Oh,' Fuka gasped, 'I see,' she had the kind of unconcerned look which fascinated Yuuichi while, at the same time, scared him beyond belief. He knew very well what was going to happen if he let her get her way.

'Fuka…'

'What?' she asked all-too-innocently.

'Whatever it is that you're thinking, forget about it,' he replied.

'Look,' she said, 'I get it, you promised Bunta you wouldn't interfere.'

'Yes,' Yuuichi said.

'Correct me if I'm wrong but,' she said, 'I didn't promise him anything, did I?'

'Fuka…'

'Don't worry,' she said smiling sweetly, 'I'm not going to do anything drastic. I'm just going to have a friendly chat with Kumiko. You know, I've been meaning to ask her to come around for a coffee or something.'

'Fuka…'

'Don't worry,' she repeated, 'all I want to do is to see if Kumiko really is as indifferent to Bunta as she wants us all to believe and then I'll just take it from there.'

'And what happens if she is not?' Yuuichi asked.

'Well,' she said, 'then all those two need is a nudge in the right direction.'

'Fuka,' Yuuichi said eyeing his wife admiringly, 'you're a tad scary, you know that?'

'Maybe,' she said.

'But you're a genius,' he concluded.

'I know,' she said and, with that, the two of them hugged. Yuuichi was about to kiss his wife when another thought occurred to him. Without letting her go, he pushed her away only a little bit and, looking at her beautiful face, he said:

'Honey, you don't seem to be bothered about the fact that Bunta likes your best friend's younger sister.'

'Why would I?' Fuka asked him.

'I don't know,' he replied, 'is just that Seiko was Bunta's first girlfriend too and…'

'Yuuichi,' she interrupted him getting serious, 'Seiko and Bunta broke up a long time ago and now Seiko is a happily married woman as well as the mother of two wonderful kids. I think it's only fair that Bunta gets his chance to be happy, considering how badly everything went with Midori.'

'That's true,' Yuuichi agreed.

'And if he thinks he can find this happiness with Seiko's younger sister,' Fuka continued, 'then all we can do is to support them and help them as much as we can. Besides, I think they would make a really cute couple.'

'Fuka…'

'Oh, come on,' she complained, 'don't tell me you don't think so too.'

'Yeah, but…'

'Don't worry,' she said for the third time, 'if those two aren't dating by the end of the month, I'll give up, you have my word,' then, before Yuuichi could even consider getting worried, she kissed him full on his mouth and, after that, he stopped thinking about Bunta's love life so that he could take care of his own.

A few days later, while Bunta was at his team's test track and Yuuichi was busy working at his father's petrol station, Fuka decided to drop by the Fujiwara Tofu Shop knowing that at this time of the afternoon, Kumiko was probably getting ready to go to home.

'Oh hello,' the younger girl said when she opened the door.

'Hi,' Fuka said, 'can I come in?'

'S-sure,' Kumiko said, 'I was just about to leave.'

The two women stepped into the shop and Fuka noticed that Eikichi was still up. Instead of taking his usual afternoon nap, he was watching some TV show while drinking what looked like camomile tea. Looking up, he smiled at Fuka and said:

'Fuka-chan, aren't you a little early today?'

'Yes, I am,' she replied casually, 'I was just wondering if Kumiko-chan would have some time for me.'

'Why?' Kumiko asked frowning a little, 'are you feeling ill?'

'Oh no, I'm fine,' Fuka replied, 'I just fancied spending some time just us two girls together. I mean, since your sister lives so far away, you know that I don't really have many other girlfriends I can hang out with.'

'Ah,' Kumiko said.

'But if you don't have time…'

'Kumi-chan,' Eikichi said, 'why don't you and Fuka-chan go somewhere?'

'Eikichi-san…'

'I'll be fine,' he said, 'I know you don't approve but I want to stay up today. If possible, unsupervised.'

'Eikichi-san…'

'I promise I won't overdo things, okay?' he said with a smirk which made him look a lot like Bunta.

'We could stay…' Kumiko started.

'Kumi-chan,' Eikichi admonished, 'contrary to what you all believe, I'm still capable of taking care of myself.'

'I know that,' Kumiko said softly, 'it's just that your nephew is worried.'

'He should worry about himself,' Eikichi said a little grumpily, 'now, go with Fuka-chan and have fun.'

'Okay,' Kumiko said offering one of her rare smiles, 'I'll do my best.'

'Good girl,' Eikichi said smiling back at her.

Fuka, meanwhile, observed the whole exchange in awe. In all the years she'd known Bunta's uncle, he'd never seen him being so mellow. Fuka knew that a large part of it was the fact that the old man had finally realised he wasn't as strong as he wanted them all to believe but, in her opinion, Kumiko's calming presence had also contributed significantly.

'I'm worried,' Kumiko said once both women were out of the shop, walking to the town centre.

'Why?' Fuka asked casually.

'Eikichi-san is not recovering as fast as I hoped he would,' Kumiko confessed.

'Really?' Fuka said, 'he's following the treatment the doctor gave him, isn't he?'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied, 'but he's still getting severe arrhythmia even when making the lightest efforts. I know he's trying to pretend that everything is fine but he feels tired all the time and I don't know how long his mind will hold.'

'What do you mean?' Fuka asked now sounding as concerned as Kumiko was.

'There have been some studies that indicate that patients, especially patients like Eikichi-san who were healthy up until the first crisis, might end up suffering from depression due to the fact that they can't adjust to the lifestyle required by their new condition.'

'I see your point,' Fuka said.

'I know Eikichi-san doesn't want his nephew to worry about him,' Kumiko continued, 'but I think Fujiwara-san should spend more time with his uncle or at least keep an eye on him,' she added. Then, seeing Fuka's expression, she asked, 'what's wrong?'

'Nothing,' Fuka replied, 'it's just that I find it funny how you call Eikichi-san by his name but you still call Bunta with his surname.'

'Oh,' Kumiko said, 'it's just that…'

'You should call him Bunta,' Fuka commented, 'everyone does.'

'No,' she said, 'I wouldn't feel comfortable.'

'Why not?' Fuka asked, happy that the conversation had reached the subject so naturally, 'I'm sure he wouldn't mind,' she added.

'I'm sure he wouldn't,' Kumiko confirmed, 'but I don't think it's appropriate. Eikichi-san is a patient and he wouldn't let me call him any other way, but Fujiwara-san is…well, he has nothing to do with me.'

'Oh,' Fuka said, 'is that so?'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied all-too-firmly.

'Okay,' Fuka said then, keeping a light tone of voice, she added, 'he _is_ good looking, don't you think?'

'I wouldn't know,' Kumiko replied.

'Not your type?' Fuka ventured.

'No,' Kumiko replied, 'not at all.'

'Uh-hu,' Fuka said then, still speaking as casually as she could, she asked, 'what is your type then?'

Kumiko remained silent for a while making Fuka fear that she had pressed on a little too hard. She was about to say something to change the topic of conversation when, speaking with a tiny voice, Kumiko said:

'Anyone but him.'

'Sorry I didn't catch that,' Fuka said.

'I said,' Kumiko said blushing delicately, 'that my type is anyone but Fujiwara-san.'

'Why is that?' Fuka asked trying hard not to burst out laughing.

'He's….'

'Yes?' Fuka pressed.

'Please don't tell him I said this,' the girl practically begged.

'You have my word Kumiko,' Fuka promised.

'I think he's dangerous,' she half whispered.

'Dangerous?' a shocked Fuka asked. She had definitely not seen this one coming, 'how so?'

'I…I don't know how to explain this,' Kumiko said. The poor thing was nearly dying with embarrassment, 'but, whenever he's around…I feel uncomfortable and I don't like it.'

'Kumiko…'

'Besides,' the younger woman continued, 'you know my father would never approve of him. Even if Seiko hadn't been engaged to Nakajima-san, he would have never allowed him to marry her.'

'Kumiko,' Fuka said, 'you're not your sister. To begin with, you moved out from your parents' house to pursue a career and have also rejected the marriage they arranged for you and that's something Seiko would have never done.'

'Yes,' Kumiko said miserably, 'and now my father is not talking to me.'

'Can I speak hypothetically?' Fuka asked.

'Of course,' Kumiko replied.

'Say that you and Bunta started dating…'

'That's not going to happen,' Kumiko cut her short.

'Hey,' Fuka admonished, 'I said it was a hypothesis.'

'Ah…okay,' Kumiko said.

'Alright,' Fuka started again, 'say that you two dated. Do you think your father would really mind all that much? After all, he's not a jobless high school kid anymore. He's going to be a great professional racer.'

'Father will never think of that as a decent job,' Kumiko said.

'Fair enough,' Fuka said, 'but think of the money he can make.'

'I don't care about that!' Kumiko exclaimed, 'I'm not Seiko!'

'I know you aren't,' Fuka said trying not to get defensive about her best friend, 'but precisely because you're not your sister, I think it wouldn't take all that much to convince your father that being with Bunta isn't such a bad thing.'

'This conversation isn't going anywhere,' Kumiko sentenced, 'I think I'm going to go home.'

'Kumiko,' Fuka said realising that she had indeed pushed it too much, 'I'm sorry, okay? Is just that I don't understand why you're so afraid of Bunta. He really is a great guy, one of the nicest and most decent people I've ever met. You know that after all the pain Seiko put him through, he's never spoken ill of her?'

'Why are you telling me this?' Kumiko asked.

'Because I think you've judged Bunta without getting to know him first,' Fuka said, 'and he doesn't deserve that.'

'I know,' Kumiko said.

'Then, why don't you give him a chance?' Fuka asked full of hope.

'No,' Kumiko replied resolutely, 'I can't. I know he's not a bad person and he _is_ good looking but I just can't date my sister's ex boyfriend. It's just wrong, not to mention the fact that Seiko would have a field day if she knew.'

'Why would she?' Fuka asked.

'It would be as if I took another of the hand-me-downs she gave me when we were little,' Kumiko explained, 'and I've had enough of being in her shadow. That's the reason why I left home so that I could become a nurse and be myself. You have no idea of what it's like being perfect Seiko's little sister.'

Fuka looked at her suddenly understanding a lot of things about Kumiko's problems finding it hard to believe that the young woman had such bitter feelings regarding her older sister.

Likewise, she couldn't believe that two people could be grasping at straws so stubbornly in order to keep on denying what they felt for one another but, having figured out what Kumiko's issue was, Fuka knew that there was some hope.

Instead of voicing her thoughts, she pointed at a place just a little bit further down the road which was decorated as if it were a pretty French café. It even had white and red chequered table cloths and there were fresh flowers on top of each table.

'I've never been there, have you?' she asked.

'No, I haven't,' Kumiko replied visibly relieved at the change of topic.

The two girls went into the café and asked for the beverages menu. Fuka decided to steer the conversation into much safer topics while, in her mind, she started coming up with what she thought would be a fool proof plan to get Kumiko and Bunta out on a date.

On Saturday evening with only a week to go before the last JTCC race in Suzuka, Bunta got back home to find that, as usual, Fuka and Yuuichi were already there taking care of the daily delivery of soy beans. Eikichi was also up but Kumiko was nowhere to be seen.

'Hello,' Yuuichi said, 'how was the new engine?'

'It's not new,' Bunta explained taking his jacket off, 'we've just changed a few things in it.'

'Oh,' Yuuichi said, 'you don't look too happy about it.'

'It'll be fine,' Bunta said tiredly, 'I'm going to take a bath.'

'What about dinner?' Fuka asked him.

'I'll munch something later,' Bunta replied. He stepped into the living room and after saying a quick 'good evening,' to his uncle, he made his way upstairs. That made him miss the intent way in which Fuka was looking at her husband.

When a few minutes later Bunta got back downstairs, Fuka was frying some tempura so that Bunta could eat something decent while Yuuichi approached Bunta and, trying to speak ever-so-casually, he said:

'Do you have any plans for tomorrow afternoon?'

'Eh...' Bunta hesitated, 'no, I don't think so, why?'

'Oh,' Yuuichi said, 'you know, a few days ago I got these two tickets for the cinema for me and Fuka but something's come up and she can't make it.'

'On a Sunday?' Bunta asked. Yuuichi knew that unless he invented some very credible excuse, clever Bunta would never buy it so, choosing his words carefully, he said:

'An old friend from high school is coming to town tomorrow and since they haven't seen each other in so long, Fuka really wanted to spend the day with her so that the two could catch up.'

'Oh, that's too bad,' Bunta said.

'Well,' Yuuichi said, 'to be honest I was kind of hoping we could go together, you know?'

'Us?' Bunta asked, 'to the cinema? Together?'

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied trying not to sound desperate.

'I'm not that bored…'

'Bunta, please,' Fuka said coming to the rescue, 'I feel bad enough already that I have to bail on poor Yuuichi, he was looking forward to this movie and now…'

'You should go,' Eikichi said, speaking for the first time, 'when was the last time you went out for anything else than racing or the shop?'

'Er…'

'It was so long ago you can't remember,' Eikichi stated.

'Okay, okay,' Bunta said seeing that he was severely outnumbered, 'when do you want me to pick you up?'

'That won't be necessary,' Yuuichi assured him, 'I'll meet you at the cinema at say…three o'clock?'

Bunta pretended to think about it for a bit then, acting as though as he was doing him a gigantic favour, he said:

'Alright, but you get the popcorn.'

'Sure,' Yuuichi said with a smile which looked too happy. Thankfully, neither Bunta nor Eikichi seemed to notice and, an instant later, Fuka conveniently brought the freshly fried tempura so that the two Fujiwara would be kept busy.

Phase one of the plan had been completed.

The next day, twenty minutes before three o'clock in the afternoon, it was raining a little when Bunta left the tofu shop to go to the cinema. He had planned on going there by foot but, seeing the poor weather conditions, he decided to use his beloved 2000GT.

Because of this, he made it to the meeting place with more than ten minutes to spare and had already decided that he would wait for Yuuichi inside the car when, standing just outside the cinema covered with a red umbrella, he saw the last person he expected to see.

'What the…'

Climbing out of the car, he half-ran towards Kumiko and said:

'I would ask you what you're doing here but…'

'I knew it,' she interrupted him. She sounded angry when she said, 'you staged this, didn't you?'

'What?' an incredulous Bunta asked, 'I…'

'I knew it was odd that Fuka-san would ask me to keep both tickets,' she said.

'I don't know what you're talk…'

'Right,' Kumiko cut him off, 'you didn't ask Fuka-san to ask me to go to the cinema with her so that you could show up in her place, did you?'

'Of course not,' Bunta said. He was now getting rather angry too, 'why in the heck would I do that?'

'Oh, I don't know, you tell me,' she replied dryly.

'Look,' Bunta said, 'if I wanted to ask you out, I would do it myself. I would never depend on someone else to do it for me.'

'You wouldn't?' Kumiko asked frowning.

'Of course not,' Bunta replied firmly, 'I know you don't have a very good opinion of me but, seriously, just the fact that you think I could, it's…very insulting.'

He was about to turn round to leave when, out of the blue, Kumiko stopped him by grabbing one of the sleeves of his jacket. She let go of it the instant a very surprised Bunta stopped and looked at her.

'I'm sorry,' she mumbled.

Bunta didn't know what to say.

'I shouldn't have accused you of doing that,' Kumiko added.

Bunta fidgeted for a little while, unsure of what he wanted to do next. Then, taking a deep breath while trying to gather as much courage as he could, he braced himself for the worse when he said:

'Since we're here…we could just go and watch the movie, couldn't we?'

Contrary to what he thought, it didn't look like Kumiko would get angry again. If anything, she seemed to be debating whether she wanted to accept his proposal or not. He was about to tell her to forget about it when, very slowly, she nodded.

'It's just a movie, right?' she asked.

'Yeah,' a hopeful Bunta said, 'just a movie.'

'Okay then,' Kumiko said.

'The popcorn is on me,' Bunta offered generously.

'I don't like popcorn,' she then said then, seeing Bunta's downcast expression, she said, 'but I like peanuts.'

He smiled, suddenly deciding that peanuts were the best fruit in the whole world.

With that, the two of them finally walked into the cinema unaware that, not too far, there was a couple with a very mischievous look on their faces. Then, speaking at the same time, both Yuuichi and Fuka smiled and said:

'Mission accomplished.'

_To be continued…_


	66. Chapter Sixty Five

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty Five_

Even though "Samurai's Sky" was a surprisingly interesting movie, Bunta could not help but to steal glances at Kumiko every now and then finding that the girl was so enthralled with what was happening on the screen that she had even stopped eating the bag of peanuts he'd got for her.

'Did you like the movie?' Bunta asked her while they were leaving the theatre.

'I loved it,' Kumiko replied, 'I became a fan of Fujioka Hiroshi-san when I saw him in "Kamen Rider" and that's the only reason why I accepted Fuka-san's invitation. I've been looking forward to watching this movie ever since they announced it.'

'I see,' Bunta said, 'I didn't think you'd be into war movies.'

'Why not?' Kumiko asked him.

'Well,' Bunta said, 'you're a nurse.'

'So?'

'I just thought that you'd be more into romantic comedies,' Bunta commented.

'Well,' she said, 'you're wrong. I don't really like watching people falling in love. It's always the same old boring story.'

'Not very romantic, are you?' he couldn't help but to ask.

'No,' she replied.

No, he thought. That girl was too serious and far too pragmatic to hold any romantic notions regarding her future love life. Yet again, Kumiko proved to be so different from the girls he was used to and he more than welcomed the change.

'Oh,' he heard her gasp.

'What's up?' he asked.

Instead of replying, she pointed at the glass doors and, through them, Bunta saw that the light rain from earlier had become a small typhoon. The strong wind was bending the nearby trees and the water was falling so heavily that they couldn't see the other side of the street.

The people who had left the cinema with them quickly piled up in the hall, all trying to decide what to do in order to get back home. Bunta looked at Kumiko who had started looking very worried. That made him ask:

'What's the matter?'

'I need to be at the hospital for my evening shift,' she announced.

'When does that start?' Bunta asked her.

'In an hour,' she replied.

'You haven't had any dinner yet,' he commented.

'No, I haven't,' she confirmed, 'I was going to eat something at the cafeteria.'

'Ah,' Bunta said then, an idea occurred to him, 'why don't I take you to the hospital? We could eat something together and…'

'I don't think that's a good idea,' Kumiko interrupted him.

'Which part?' he asked.

Kumiko glanced at him briefly before looking away. She seemed to be searching for the best way to reply to his question, she then looked through the cinema's door obviously hoping that the rain would suddenly stop. Since it didn't, using a very low tone of voice, she finally said:

'Fujiwara-san, I think you've misunderstood something.'

'Have I?' Bunta asked her.

'Yes,' she replied, 'I…this…well, us going out together is just a one-off thing, it's not going to happen again.'

'Kumiko…'

'That said, I know it's not reasonable to refuse your offer to drive me to work since, clearly, it's not going to stop raining anytime soon.'

'Are you asking me to take you to the hospital?'

'It was your idea,' she said accusingly.

'Yes, it was,' Bunta replied dejectedly then, seeing that it was pointless to continue the conversation, at least for now, he said, 'okay, I'll take you to work but, tell me one thing, will you?'

'What is it?' she asked.

'You had fun, didn't you?'

'That's got nothing to do with…'

'Just answer the question Kumiko,' Bunta said tiredly.

'I did,' she replied, 'the movie was good and you're a good partner to watch movies with. I hate going to the movies with people who keep making noises or, worse, talk during the movie.'

'Me too,' he said. That made her look at him in a very odd way, 'seriously,' he added, 'I don't like it when people bother me while I'm watching something, be it at TV program or a movie. It's annoying.'

Kumiko didn't say anything to that, instead, she glanced at her small watch and said:

'Should we get going?'

'I thought you didn't start for another hour,' he replied.

'I do,' she confirmed, 'but in this rain it'll take a while. The roads will be soaked and…'

'Kumiko,' he interrupted her, 'if we don't make it to the hospital in less than ten minutes, I'll give my car up to Yuuichi.'

'Ten minutes?' she asked scandalised, 'that's impossible!'

Bunta just chuckled and, opening the door and her umbrella, he said:

'Start counting.'

Exactly seven and a half minutes later, Bunta stopped his Toyota on the lane which the ambulances usually parked. That was right at the entrance of the hospital so Kumiko could get straight inside the hospital without having to get anymore wet than she already was.

'Wow,' she said, 'I…'

'I told you,' Bunta said with a smug smile, 'it was a piece of cake.'

'How fast were we going?' Kumiko asked him.

'Oh,' Bunta replied feeling suddenly worried, 'I didn't scare you, did I?'

'Not really,' she said, 'I was just curious but it doesn't matter. I should really get going, I'm going to need to get changed and dry a little before I can go and get something to eat.'

'You're still not going to change your mind about…you know?' he had to try one last time.

'No,' Kumiko replied, 'I won't. Fujiwara-san, you're a nice person but I just don't think we could…date.'

She said the last word as though as it was a dirty thing and that hurt even more than the actual rejection and it made Bunta think of the possibility of giving up for good. In reality, his younger self would have probably put up a fight and not take a no for an answer but, right now, he simply didn't have that kind of aggressive disposition anymore.

'Fair enough,' he said.

She was about to put her hand on the door's handle when Bunta asked:

'Just out of curiosity, why do you think we wouldn't work?'

'Many reasons,' she replied. Now she refused to look at him.

'One of them being?' he pressed on.

'Well,' she said, 'to begin with, technically speaking, I'm working for you.'

'No you're not,' Bunta said, 'you're just volunteering, remember?'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied, 'but it's the same thing. It'd be very inappropriate.'

'So,' Bunta said, 'if I asked social services for a replacement, that problem would be solved, wouldn't it?'

'Would you do that?' Kumiko asked, this time looking at him with a hurt expression in her eyes.

'No, of course I wouldn't,' Bunta hurried to say, 'Eikichi wouldn't like it one bit. He's quite fond of you, you know.'

Kumiko nodded once.

'And he's not the only one who is,' Bunta nearly mumbled.

Kumiko lowered her head.

'I'm sorry to hear that,' she said and, before Bunta had the time to react, she opened the 2000GT's door, climbed out and started making her way to the hospital leaving him sitting inside his car unable to believe what had just happened.

He'd practically confessed to her.

'She's sorry,' he mumbled, 'she said she's sorry.'

Shaking his head, he turned the ignition key and, flooring the accelerator, he left the hospital at a speed which was entirely unreasonable considering the poor weather conditions. He didn't care, he just felt way too humiliated and he needed something to make him feel better.

Mt Akina.

Yes, he'd drive for a bit.

Rain had never been a problem and, right now, he welcomed the extra effort he had to make in order to get the car to drift through the many fascinating corners the old mountain pass offered this way, he hoped, he would stop thinking of that silly, silly nurse.

After nearly a week of having successfully avoided the topic, he found himself cornered by Yuuichi while he helped Bunta clean the boxes after he'd come back from the delivery. For once, Bunta wished his best friend and his wife would just go home after making the tofu instead of hanging around.

'So,' Yuuichi said, 'I've been meaning to ask you…'

'Don't,' Bunta warned him.

'What?' he asked innocently, 'I was just wondering if we could organise a double date, you know, after the race, we could…'

'That's not going to happen,' Bunta said.

'Why not?' he asked sounding surprised, 'you two went out, right?'

'And whose fault is that?' Bunta asked him sounding a lot harsher than he intended to.

'But Bunta, Fuka and I…'

'You two had the best intentions,' he finished instead, 'I know that and, trust me, I appreciate your efforts but it's useless okay? So, why don't you two stop wasting your time with us and do something more productive, like, for instance, make babies something…'

'We've been trying,' Yuuichi confessed.

'Oh, please,' Bunta said sounding positively disgusted, 'that's way too much information.'

'Sorry,' Yuuichi said, 'but, seriously now, what happened with Kumiko-chan?'

'Nothing,' Bunta replied, 'nothing happened and nothing will happen, okay? I've asked you before and I'll ask you again, you and Fuka need to stay out of this, understood?'

Yuuichi nodded.

'Good,' Bunta said satisfied, 'now, I'll go and pack up, I'm supposed to meet with Matsuda-san in less than an hour and you two should really go home, you've done more than enough already.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi said obediently.

Two hours later, Bunta was onboard the Sakamoto Racing Team's van with Matsuda leading the way to Suzuka Circuit for the last event of the 1976 Japanese Touring Car Championship. Bunta had been looking forward to that because, in all honesty, he was dying to properly beat Yamazaki. He knew that, unless he did, he would not be ready to move on.

He had the extra incentive in the fact that, if he failed to win this race, he would never have another chance, with Yamazaki hanging his racing helmet for good, it was now or never and he could not see a better way to thank the older racer than to beat him fair and square.

The car had never felt any better and Matsuda had yet again praised the work Bunta had put into improving the Fairlady Z. Bunta knew that he would miss driving such a great car, second only to his own 2000GT and, perhaps, Eikichi's Bellett, but, Bunta knew it was time for his new adventure:

The All-Japan Rallying Championship.

He was very much looking forward to trying another, perhaps more exciting way of racing. He knew that rallying would be a whole different experience and he couldn't wait to see for himself what he could do.

'What are you thinking about?'

'Eh?'

'You seemed lost in your thoughts,' Matsuda commented.

'Ah,' Bunta said, 'I was trying to come up with a good strategy for the race.'

'I don't think you need one,' Matsuda said.

'What do you mean by that?' Bunta asked.

'You know what I mean,' Matsuda replied but, nevertheless, he was kind enough to elaborate, 'most drivers,' he said, 'need carefully planned strategies in order to beat their opponents. In your case, I think it's best if you just go and do what you feel it's right.'

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'that sounds reasonable.'

'It's not, actually,' Matsuda said, 'it looks like you just need the appropriate settings and you'll adjust your driving according to the conditions. Not many people can do that, you know?'

Bunta remained silent.

'You really are a freak of nature,' Matsuda said, 'it's just a pity we'll lose you after this race.'

'Matsuda-san…'

'Oh, kiddo,' he said, 'Sakamoto-san might still fooling himself that you'll stay on for next year but, I know enough about motorsports to know that someone like you needs to try several things out until you'll find what you really like.'

'You don't sound too upset,' Bunta commented.

'I am upset,' Matsuda countered, 'because with you in the team we could have done great things. But I know that holding you back isn't the wisest choice. Sakamoto-san knows that too which is why he isn't pressing you to make a decision.'

'But Takashi…'

'Haven't you heard?' Matsuda asked, now he sounded surprised.

'About what?'

'Itachi-kun will no longer race with us,' Matsuda replied.

'But he said he would make it on time,' Bunta said.

'That's no longer important,' Matsuda said, 'he's quit racing altogether.'

'What?' Bunta nearly shouted, 'why?'

'Well,' Matsuda said, 'I don't know the circumstances but it seems like he's been feeling too pressured by his father lately and has decided to complete his recovery in the US. Apparently he's got a sister living there.'

'Yeah, he does,' Bunta confirmed.

'In any case,' Matsuda said, 'once you leave us, Sakamoto-san will have his hands full trying to find a suitable replacement,' the old man stopped talking and, glancing at Bunta quickly, he returned his gaze to the road and added, 'I don't want you to worry about that though, it's none of your business.'

Bunta just nodded.

His mind was busy thinking about Takashi. He was kind of happy for the guy. Granted, he'd never been friends with him but, after his accident, the older guy's personality had improved a lot and Bunta thought that it was about time Takashi cut ties with his father so that he could, at long last, make his own decisions. Also, for some reason, he felt better knowing that he'd be in the US to keep an eye on Midori.

He found it hard to believe it but he still cared about that woman's wellbeing. He really was too nice…

Six and a half hours later they arrived at the Suzuka Circuit, about twenty kilometres north of Tsu, the capital city of the Mie prefecture. The eight-shaped circuit had just been partially renovated and there were rumours that there would be a motorcycle endurance race held there some time in the future.

'Get some rest while we get everything ready, Matsuda ordered.

'Okay,' Bunta said. He wasn't tired, despite the fact he had been driving half of the trip so, instead of staying in the van, he just went for a walk around the paddock area. It was as packed with people as it was to be expected considering how, in addition to being the last race of the JTCC season, the F2000 championship was also coming to an end.

He stopped nearby one of the F2000 trucks while the team's staff unloaded the single-seater and with a smile on his face, he wondered how it would feel to drive one of those little cars down Mt Akina.

'Getting curious, aren't we?' he heard a very familiar voice ask.

'Yoshida-san,' he said.

'Bunta,' the older man said, 'please don't tell me you'll want to try F2000 next.'

'No, no,' Bunta quickly denied, 'too small. I don't think I'd fit in one of those things.'

'That's a relief,' Yoshida said, 'I know it's a little too soon but Katayama and I have already got in touch with a couple of people who will help setting the team up. One of them will be your co-pilot.'

'Co-pilot?' Bunta asked.

'Of course,' Yoshida replied, 'you'll need a navigator, won't you?'

'Of course,' Bunta repeated, 'sorry, I kind of forgot.'

'Oh gosh,' Yoshida said looking slightly scandalised, 'here I thought you were at least slightly familiar with the rallying regulations.'

'I am,' Bunta defended himself, 'it's just that, right now, I wasn't thinking of that.'

'I was only joking,' Yoshida said, 'I know that you need to focus on this race first. We can talk about the rally team later but just let me tell you this: you're going to love the car.'

'I'm looking forward to seeing it,' Bunta admitted.

'I'm sure you are,' Yoshida said then, walking away from the F2000's truck, the two men made their way to the pitbox assigned to the Sakamoto Racing Team where Matsuda and the other two mechanics had already finished setting things up.

'Okay,' Sakamoto said, 'practice will start in half an hour. It looks like the organisation is trying to pack as many events as they can so we'll be a bit pressed with time so let's do our best not to make mistakes, okay?'

Everyone nodded.

'Good,' Sakamoto said.

Forty five minutes later, Bunta was about to complete his seventh lap around the circuit when, around the 130R corner he noticed that something felt weird in the L28E engine which made the whole car tremble ever-so-slightly. It was as easy to guess what was happening as it was difficult to accept it:

The engine was giving up on him.

Luckily, the pitlane's entrance was just a chicane away because Bunta was sure he would have never made it back had he been any further away from it. In fact, he had just covered half the length of the pitlane when he saw a curtain of thin white smoke coming out from the bonnet's grid.

'Oh crap,' he muttered.

He somehow managed to get the car into the pitbox and there he saw the horrified expressions of the two junior mechanics. Stoic Matsuda showed his concern with a deep frown but, instead of panicking, he just waited for Bunta to climb out of the car, then, opening the bonnet's cover, he started fanning the smoke so that he could see the engine.

'Move over,' he told him.

'It's not ruined, is it?' Bunta asked with his voice full of guilt.

'Don't worry,' Sakamoto assured him, 'we can fix it, can't we?'

'I'll get on with it now,' the engineer replied then, looking at Bunta, he said, 'we'll definitely have it fixed for qualifying but I don't think you'll get any more time to practice.'

'It's okay as long as I can qualify,' Bunta said then, looking at Sakamoto with pleading eyes, he asked, 'can I please help? I know you don't approve but you know we'll need all the hands we can get.'

'Alright,' Sakamoto replied after short pause, 'as long as Matsuda's okay with it.'

'Grab a pair of gloves,' Matsuda ordered Bunta, pointing at a pair of cotton gloves which were on top of one of the toolboxes. He complied immediately, not only because he felt guilty about wrecking the engine but also because he was dying to get his hands on it.

Yoshida just remained there watching while Bunta and the two mechanics worked on the car following Matsuda's precise instructions. Soon, they had a few parts disassembled and the engineer started assessing the damage.

'It wasn't your fault,' he finally decided looking at Bunta, 'in fact, this is the first engine problem we've had since you started driving the car.'

'But…'

'Fujiwara,' he insisted, 'if it hadn't been because you're so careful with it, the engine would have probably blown up on us a long time ago. As it is, we'll just need to replace the valve cover gasket and, just in case, we'll also check the piston rings.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'what can I do?'

'Take this and start unscrewing the intake,' Matsuda said giving Bunta one of his precious screwdrivers.

A couple of hours later, Matsuda gave the all-clear to Bunta so that he could climb back into the car and turn the engine back on. They had been working at a mad speed, all of them skipping lunch so that they could make it to the qualifying session.

Carefully, Bunta turned the key in the ignition and, to his utmost relief, the engine sounded just as good as new. He really would have hated it if they failed to qualify in what he knew would be his fifth and final JTCC race.

'How is it?' he shouted at Matsuda who was staring inside the still open bonnet.

'Looks alright,' he replied then, to prove his point, he closed the lid while the two junior mechanics started putting the tools away, 'just in case, take it easy during the first lap out, we won't have time to fix it again if it breaks down during qualifying.'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'I'll be careful, I promise.'

'Fujiwara,' Sakamoto said, 'I know that asking you this is asking for trouble but, don't aim for the pole, what's important now is that we qualify, okay?'

'I get it,' Bunta said seriously.

'Okay,' Sakamoto said.

When the marshals finally opened the pitlane for the start of the JTCC's qualifying session, Bunta joined the queue while paying a lot of attention to the noises coming from under the bonnet. Not that he was paranoid about it but he thought it would be better be safe than sorry.

During the first lap out, rather than trying new, possibly faster lines and better braking points, Bunta limited himself with seeing whether the repairs done to the engine would allow him to start pushing it. He only convinced himself that everything was alright when nearly ten minutes later, he completed his fifth trouble free lap.

He was about to start his flying lap when, glancing at the rear view mirror, he saw the heavily modified blue Honda 1300 Coupe which had been involved in the pile up that had cost Yamazaki the race at Nishinihon and, showing quite a lot of sportsmanship, Bunta decided to make room so that the Honda could overtake him.

Surprisingly, the 1300 veered in the same direction, choosing to remain stuck behind Bunta's Nissan.

Pressing the accelerator, Bunta pushed the car a little further. He crossed the starting line and got ready for the first corner called, rather appropriately 'First'. From there, with the Honda always stuck behind him, he covered the 'S' and, just before the wide Dunlop corner, the Honda decided to finally overtake him.

'What are you playing at?' he muttered feeling rather confused.

Not having time to think up an answer, Bunta followed the 1300 all the way to the Hairpin where, for no apparent reason, it slowed down a lot more than was necessary. Getting tired of this rather erratic behaviour, Bunta did what he would have done in one of Mt Akina's hairpins:

Taking the inside of the corner in what truly was a suicidal manoeuvre, he exited right in front of the Honda and, after that, he tried to put as much distance as possible and, by the time he reached the Spoon, it seemed like the Honda had finally given up.

'What the hell was that?' he asked to no one in particular.

Instead of crossing the line, he decided to do a quick stop at the pitbox so that Matsuda could check if everything was alright with the engine; also because his instinct told him to keep his car away from that Honda.

'Wise decision,' Yoshida commented during the few instants Matsuda spent taking a look at the engine, 'it looks like Shiraishi is trying to provoke you. He probably feels safe knowing that the big Honda guys are all here watching the race.'

'That's moronic,' Bunta decided, 'and if it wasn't because I don't want to wreck the engine…'

He didn't finish the sentence for, right at that moment Matsuda gave him the green light so that he could get back to the track. Yoshida and Sakamoto exchanged a look and, at the same time, both let out a chuckle then, Yoshida said:

'That Shiraishi has no idea how lucky he is.'

Sakamoto nodded his agreement while keeping a smile on his handsome face.

In the end, Bunta could not make it past the third place in the qualifying session and, as expected, Yamazaki took the pole. In second place they had a Mitsubishi GTO and Bunta had the immense satisfaction of seeing that Shiraishi's Honda had only got the fifth best time.

'It's okay,' Sakamoto told him, 'third place is great news.'

'Yeah well,' Bunta said, 'I guess it'll do.'

He wasn't at all happy about that but he knew that the starting position was only relatively important, what mattered more was to be able to compete in tomorrow's race. He then would have two rounds to achieve his target: beat Yamazaki and claim his second JTCC victory.

The following day, the whole Sakamoto Racing Team plus Yoshida met up at the hotel for a quick briefing over breakfast. Matsuda announced that he'd spent the evening double-checking that everything was fine with the car.

'Fujiwara,' Sakamoto said, 'considering everything, I've decided that this is what we'll do: during the first stint, the objective is to hold onto the third place you've got. I know that Yamazaki will probably pull away as soon as the race starts but it's Shiraishi the one I want you to worry about.'

Bunta forced himself to nod.

'If we do this,' Sakamoto continued, 'you should start the second round ahead of Yamazaki which will make it possible for you to do your best to overtake the rest of the cars you'll have in front of you and win the race.'

'Alright,' he said.

So much for Matsuda's theory about him not needing strategies, Bunta thought miserably. But Sakamoto was right and if he wanted to win, he needed to be sensible.

The team got to the circuit just in time to see the F2000's warm up and Bunta was about to go to the bathroom when he saw a very familiar looking car driving into the paddock's parking area. He should have known that Yuuichi would not be able to stay away from the circuit so that he could see his best friend in action.

He was going to walk towards the Mazda when three of the four doors opened. Climbing out of the car, he saw Yuuichi, his wife Fuka and Kumiko. Seeing the nurse there made him stop and, for some bizarre reason, he felt like hiding somewhere. Instead, he took a deep calming breath and, with resolute strides, he made his way towards them.

'Hey,' Yuuichi said smiling, 'surprised?'

'Not really,' Bunta said flatly, 'you're just_ that_ predictable.'

'Oh come on don't be like that,' Fuka complained, 'Yuuichi was so eager to see the race that he made us leave Shibukawa super-early so that we could make it in time.'

'What about the tofu?' Bunta asked Yuuichi. He was trying very hard not to look at Kumiko.

'Don't worry,' Yuuichi explained, 'we arranged with Ryo-san so that we could make the delivery one hour earlier and Kumiko-chan helped us with the cleaning.'

'Oh, that's alright then,' Bunta said. He still was doing his best to ignore the nurse.

'Is it me,' Yuuichi said, 'or you're not particularly happy to see us here.'

'No, that's not it,' Bunta replied, 'we had a few problems with the car yesterday and I'm a little worried,' he added as a pretty poor excuse for his less than friendly behaviour.

'Oh, what happened to it?' Yuuichi asked sounding both concerned and curious.

He was going to reply when he heard Matsuda calling him from the team's pitbox so, instead, he said:

'I need to go now; I'll see you after the race.'

With that, he walked away from the three of them with the distinct impression that they were staring at him while he made his way towards his team's garage. He was aware he'd been way too dry with Yuuichi and he should probably apologise to him but, seeing Kumiko there had been oddly disturbing.

As if things weren't complicated enough already, Bunta found himself wondering how he was going to concentrate on the race knowing she was watching him.

_To be continued…_


	67. Chapter Sixty Six

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty Six_

Bunta positioned his car in the third place on the grid feeling strangely shaky and nervous. He knew the exact reason why he felt so abnormally anxious and it didn't have anything to do with the blue Honda he could see in his rear view mirrors, blaming it instead on a certain someone who would be watching him race.

He simply could not believe Kumiko was there and felt annoyed with himself for letting the girl have such a powerful effect on him. It was all Yuuichi's fault, he thought angrily while he waited for the rest of the cars to join the grid, why couldn't his best friend just mind his own business?

Deciding that he'd have words with him later, Bunta took a few deep, hopefully calming breaths and did his best to focus on the race and, most especially, on the engine purring underneath the car's bonnet.

'They're about to start,' Yuuichi said from their seats at the grandstand.

'Is it always this noisy?' Kumiko asked raising her voice.

'Yes,' Fuka replied smiling, 'don't worry though, it'll get a bit quieter soon.'

'I still don't know why you wanted me to be here,' Kumiko commented.

'You'll see,' Yuuichi said cryptically.

The acoustic warning got everyone cleared from the grid and, soon after that, all twenty nine cars which had managed to qualify took off for their formation lap and among them, they could see Bunta's red Fairlady Z entering the First corner while he did a slight zig-zag motion to start warming up the tyres.

Inside the car, Bunta observed Yamazaki's Mazda wondering what would be going through the older racer's mind while he covered the distance which separated them from the start of the race. He knew Yamazaki was eager to hang his helmet and retire but he couldn't help but to feel sad about the fact that he'd lose yet another formidable rival.

For some unknown reason, that made him think of Yoshiki-san.

Not that it was surprising, after all, both drivers had a lot in common, beginning from their age and looks to the fact that they both drove Mazdas. Coming to think of it, even their driving style was very similar.

While he repositioned his car back on his place on the grid, he briefly entertained the idea of who, between the two racers, would have won if they could face each other. It would have been a close match he decided then, at that instant, he caught a glimpse of the marshal's green flag.

A few seconds later, he no longer had the time to think about anything else other than the cars which surrounded his. They all covered the short distance which separated them from the First turn furiously competing to be the privileged one who would get to clear it first.

'Easy there,' Sakamoto said from the wall while he observed his driver. He knew well just how much he'd asked Bunta when he'd ordered him to keep his position for he was well aware that Bunta Fujiwara considered a waste every moment he wasn't attacking.

'Don't worry,' Yoshida said, 'I don't think he'll…'

Right at that moment and for no apparent reason, Bunta decided to overtake the GTO and, not happy with that, he seemed like he had every intention of chasing Yamazaki's Mazda.

'What is he doing?' Sakamoto asked Yoshida who, feeling powerless, just shrugged.

'I think I know,' Matsuda said then, seeing that everyone was looking at him, he continued, 'it's the last time he'll race Yamazaki, it's not like we can ask him to take it easy.'

'But…' Sakamoto started then, taking a moment to think about it, he shook his head and said, 'oh well, it's not like we can do anything to stop him now. Hopefully he won't wreck the engine.'

Meanwhile, Bunta's own thoughts were also on the L28E which, at least at the moment, still roared steady under the hood. He knew that while Matsuda and the other mechanics had done their best to fix the engine, it could break down on him at any given point during the race.

For this reason, he decided to use up only eighty percent of the power it could produce, even if that meant that Yamazaki would probably keep increasing the gap. He needed to be patient and wait till the second half of the race.

'Don't give up on me just yet,' he muttered at the steering wheel.

At that precise instant, he passed the straight, right in front of the grandstands from where Yuuichi, Fuka and Kumiko watched him drive through at such staggering speed that the nurse could not help but to gasp.

'Wow, that's…'

'Fast?' Fuka supplied.

'Dangerous,' Kumiko said, 'it's insane…'

Yuuichi laughed and said:

'Now she notices.'

Kumiko stared at him with a confused expression on her face.

'Bunta's mad,' he explained, 'but he's also one of the best racers I've met in my life.'

'Er…'

'What my husband's trying to say,' Fuka said, 'is that you'd be as crazy as Bunta is if you didn't see what an extraordinary person he is.'

'I know that already,' Kumiko said defensively.

'You do?' Yuuichi asked her.

'Yes,' she replied.

'They why don't you want to go out with him?' Fuka asked.

'I…'

'You know he likes you, right?' Yuuichi asked her.

'I…'

'Then,' both of them said, 'what's the problem?'

Kumiko looked taken aback and was about to open her mouth to say something when, right at that instant, a couple of cars crashed right at the First turn entry. The commotion which followed was mainly due to the fact that a couple cars were on their way there too and one of them was Bunta's Z.

'Oh no!' she said instead.

Back on the track, Bunta had his hands full trying to get his car clear of the mess the two crashed cars had caused while staying as close as possible to Yamazaki's Mazda. It wasn't an easy feat, considering that there was a significant amount of debris spread onto the tarmac.

Obviously fearing for his car's tyres, Yamazaki took a very wide line out of the corner which Bunta decided to copy. Right then, he saw through the rear view mirrors that the GTO was closing up on him and that, right behind the Mitsubishi, he could spot the blue 1300.

He knew that the succession of turns which they had ahead would slow all of them so, for this reason, he decided to wait until they got to the Dunlop wide and fast corner to floor the accelerator. With that he managed to close the gap between him and Yamazaki while increasing the one he had with the GTO.

Then, he took it easy again up until they got to the hairpin.

Glancing quickly at the rear view mirror, he saw that the GTO wasn't anywhere near him. With that comforting thought, he decided to take it easy again and hope that Yamazaki's speed remained steady. Using up the little time he had, he tried to pay attention to the engine:

The L28E was doing well.

The four cars kept their position for about half a lap when, at the exit of the spoon, the blue Honda moved towards the inside of the track levelling with the Mitsubishi. Bunta only noticed when he heard a set of tyres screeching onto the circuit's surface.

Stealing a quick look at his mirrors, he saw that the Honda had forced the Mitsubishi out of the track and was now in third position. Luckily for Bunta, he had a handful of seconds of advantage over Shiraishi but, he knew that would not be enough to keep him behind for too long.

It was time to change his strategy.

For the following ten laps and using up about ninety percent of the car's power, Bunta managed to increase the distance while getting close enough to Yamazaki to start considering an attack. He knew that the best place to overtake was the chicane but he also knew that getting on the lead would screw with Sakamoto's plans.

Bunta was still considering what to do when, coming from the engine, he felt a slight vibration.

'Oh crap.'

Swallowing hard, he tried to calm down and listen to the L28E. It still sounded fine but he noticed that the accelerator was shaking a little more than it was normal, whatever it was, he knew that if he kept pushing it like that, the engine would not make it to the end of the round so, having no other option, he lifted his foot and let the car slow down.

'It's over,' Sakamoto said seeing his car drive past the pitbox.

'Not yet,' Matsuda said, 'look,' he then added and both men could see that, whereas Bunta's Nissan was indeed slower than Yamazaki, he hadn't really lost much in terms of gap and, observing him, they noticed what he was doing.

'Unbelievable,' Sakamoto said.

At the same time, at the grandstands, the two women stared at the track with equally puzzled expressions on their faces. Yuuichi just shook his head and smiled at his best friend peculiar solution.

'What is he doing?' Kumiko asked him.

'Isn't he going to mess up with his lines driving like that?' Fuka asked him too.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi replied, 'but I think that's the idea.'

'What do you mean?' Kumiko asked.

'In theory,' Yuuichi said, 'there are a number of lines one can take to clear the circuit in the shortest time possible. I think Bunta's combining some of them into a super-fast line,' he explained then, before his two companions could open their mouths, he shook his head and said, 'no idea how he's doing it though.'

'It's just Bunta, right?' Fuka said.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi replied laughing softly, 'that crazy Bunta.'

Kumiko remained quiet and focused her eyes on the track, entirely missing the way the couple looked at each other. In her mind, the nurse started considering the possibility that she had made a terrible mistake.

Several laps later, Bunta was still doing his best to keep on Yamazaki's tail all the while keeping an eye on the blue Honda which, right then, was just a couple of seconds behind him and even though there were only a couple of turns left, he knew that it was much too early to relax.

Instead and while they covered the length of the Crossover section, Bunta tried pressing the accelerator to see if the L28E could withstand it. The slight tremor on the pedal told Bunta what he needed to know: the engine was pretty much at its limits.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Bunta decided to forget about Yamazaki and try and stick to his self-imposed strategy, hoping that, somehow, Matsuda would be able to perform his magic between the end of this round and the beginning of the next one.

'Don't give up on me, okay?' he repeated the plea.

He had just finished the sentence when he felt that something else was wrong in the car. This time though, it didn't come from under the hood but rather, from the tyres: they were clearly losing grip. He knew that it was due to the fact that he'd been forcing them onto parts of the track's surface which wasn't protected by the thin layer of rubber that the cars formed by passing over and over the same spots.

Again, he hadn't had any other choice.

Bunta then realised that he was sweating a whole lot more than usual and he was also getting very tired: his arms were sore from all the extra steering and his right ankle was also feeling rather tender. Checking his rear view mirrors for one last time, he saw that the Honda was now kissing the Nissan's rear bumper.

The two cars entered the chicane and, right at the end of it, Shiraishi knocked the bumper with his Honda's front one. Bunta knew that the racer was just trying to get him out of the way in the same way he'd done at the beginning of the race with the GTO and, seeing how his poor Nissan wasn't in a condition to pose much of a fight and that he really needed to make it to the end of the race in one piece, Bunta decided to do something he'd never ever done before:

He would let the Honda overtake him.

Bunta was about to steer clear of the 1300's way when, all of a sudden, Shiraishi pushed him once again only that, this time and due to the fact that Bunta's tyres had so little grip, the Nissan skidded inwards into the track's main straight instead of the grass planted on the outside.

What happened next was nothing short of bizarre.

Not expecting Bunta's Nissan to drift inwards, Shiraishi found himself with an over speeding car and nothing in front of it to stop him and, before the Honda driver could do anything useful with the brakes, he was sent by the car's own inertia right at the spot where Bunta should have ended up.

Unfortunately for him, not only the grass didn't stop his car but, on the contrary, it sent it flying straight onto the wall of tyres which covered the wall. It was very obvious that the car's engine was no longer running which meant that, for Shiraishi, both the race and the season were over.

Meanwhile Bunta somehow managed to straighten up his car and, with this, he went over the finish line knowing that in less than a handful of kilometres, he and his car would have the rest they both so desperately needed.

'You!' Sakamoto exclaimed when his driver finally got the car back into the boxes. Bunta braced himself for the worse but, looking more carefully, he saw that his Team Manager was smiling, 'you're crazy, you know that?'

'He knows that,' Yoshida said smiling even more widely.

Bunta tried to get out of the car but, he was so tired that he ended up falling onto the ground. That made everyone stop smiling and, kneeling next to him, Yoshida tried to help him stay in a sitting position.

'What's wrong?' the Toyota designer asked.

'I…'

'Fujiwara,' Sakamoto interrupted, 'you're not looking too good.'

'He's right,' Yoshida said and, without asking for his permission, he placed his hand onto Bunta's forehead, 'oh my gosh: you're burning!'

'What?' Bunta asked, 'yeah, I'm a little hot.'

'You're not hot,' Yoshida said, 'you've got a temperature. Are you sure you're feeling alright?'

Now he thought of it, he really was way too tired. Even if the race had been a mess, it didn't justify just how very exhausted he felt and, for the first time, he started wondering if he had been so focused on the engine that he hadn't even thought of his own body then, realising what this would mean, he tried to get up.

'Hey,' Sakamoto said forcing him back down, 'where do you think you're going?'

'I'm okay,' he hurried to say.

'I think we should take him to the clinic,' Yoshida suggested.

'No!' Bunta exclaimed, 'I'm fine. I'm just a little hot, I'll get some water and I'll rest for a bit, okay?'

'Bunta…'

'Matsuda-san,' he said ignoring Yoshida, 'can you do something to the engine? Something's wrong with it again and I'm also going to need new tyres.'

'Bunta…'

'Please Yoshida-san,' he said, 'I can't give up now. It's the last time I'll ever have to beat Yamazaki fair and square. If Matsuda-san can fix the car, then I promise I'll fix myself too. I just need to lay down for a bit.'

Everyone just stared at him for a long while then, Sakamoto and Yoshida looked at each other and, after a curt nod, Sakamoto said:

'Okay, we'll let you race but, if you start feeling weak or something, please promise me you'll take yourself out of the race.'

Bunta hesitated.

'It's that or nothing,' Yoshida insisted, 'you know better than anyone here how dangerous an unfit driver is to the rest of them. If you were responsible, you'd ask Sakamoto-san to withdraw you from the race,' he added then, before Bunta could protest, he continued, 'but since you're a crazy son of a bitch who could do wonders with a car even blindfolded, I doubt you'll do that.'

'Yoshida-san…'

'So, do we have a deal?' he pressed.

'Yeah,' Bunta finally said, 'we have a deal.'

'Good,' Sakamoto said, 'now go and get some rest, the second round starts in half a hour.'

'Matsuda-san…' Bunta started.

'Don't worry,' the chief engineer said, 'the car will be ready when you get back, that's a promise.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said and, with Yoshida's help, he got out of the pitbox so that he could get into one of the team's vans. He suddenly felt so weak that he was surprised that he'd been able to finish the first round at all and, now he thought of it, he did feel like he was coming down with something.

He, Bunta Fujiwara, was sick.

'Ridiculous,' he muttered to himself.

'What's that?' Yoshida asked.

'Nothing,' Bunta replied then, out of a corner of his eye, he saw Yuuichi, Fuka and Kumiko walking towards him. Just wonderful! All they needed now was Shiraishi to complete the party, he thought miserably. Thankfully, the Honda driver was nowhere to be seen, hiding, Bunta suspected with a large dose of malice.

'What's wrong with you?' Yuuichi asked all too loudly.

'Nothing,' Yoshida replied, 'he needs some rest.'

'Sir,' Kumiko said talking to Yoshida, 'maybe I can help: I'm a registered nurse.'

'No,' Bunta replied refusing to look at her, 'I don't need your help.'

With that and before anyone could say anything else to him, he locked himself into the van and, laying down onto one of the seats, he closed his eyes and covered his face with a moist towel. That prevented him from seeing the hurt look on Kumiko's face but Fuka and Yuuichi didn't miss it.

'He just need some rest,' he said.

'That's right,' Yoshida added, 'guys, it's best if you go back to the grandstand. There'll be a drifting exhibition in a few minutes and you shouldn't miss it.'

'Come on,' Fuka said putting one of her hands onto Kumiko's shoulder, gently guiding her away from the van, 'he'll be a lot more sociable later.'

The nurse didn't seem to think so but, for the time being, she decided to follow Bunta's friends back to their seats but, after a couple of steps, she turned round and took one last look at the van and, looking at Bunta's immobile body, she realised something which made her feel even worse: she really wanted to help him.

Not because she thought she ought to for what her sister had done to him, not because she was a nurse and he was clearly not feeling well but because, just as she feared she would, she had fallen in love with him.

'Sweetie,' she heard Fuka say while the three of them sat down, 'are you alright?'

'What?' she asked sounding startled then, recovering quickly, reassumed her usually blank expression, 'yeah, I'm fine, I'm just worried. Fujiwara-san didn't look too healthy…and…well…I'm just worried, it's part of my job, isn't it?' she tried to blandly justify.

'Yeah, sure,' Yuuichi said sounding more than a tad sceptical.

Kumiko decided then to remain quiet and pretend to pay attention to the cars that were already performing some crazy looking drifts. Thankfully, that made the half an hour go past fairly quickly and, soon enough, she saw Bunta entering the Sakamoto Team's pitbox.

She couldn't tell if he looked or felt better but, just the fact that he was standing up was probably a good thing. She then started wishing they would suspend or, even better, cancel the race so that Bunta would be free to go and…and what? She asked herself. What was she going to do now that she knew how she felt about him?

She simply didn't know.

A few more minutes later, they saw all seventeen cars which had survived the first round line up at the grid. Bunta's was in front of Yamazaki's Mazda. He still felt a little too warm for his own liking but rest and water had managed to make him feel less weak.

'We've fixed it up the best way we could,' Matsuda said talking to him through the window, 'but don't push it too much, not that you should, given that you…'

'What about the tyres?'

'We've changed those too,' Matsuda said, 'now, you're ahead. Just make sure you block him at the start and worry about getting in front later, okay?'

'Yeah,' Bunta said then, to himself, he thought that it was easier said than done. He knew that, right now, Yamazaki was a highly motivated man: it was his very last race, he'd already won the first round, as far as Bunta knew, nothing was wrong with neither him nor his car, in other words, he had everything for him and nothing against.

Just the opposite of him.

That made him smile a little. Yeah, it was true, his car was far from being perfect, he was really feeling poorly and, right now, all he felt like doing was get back in the van and sleep but, for some reason, he thought that he rather liked this scenario.

He could almost hear Eikichi's voice:

'It's in moments like these that a true racer shows his colours.'

Twisting his helmeted head towards his left side, he glanced at Yamazaki's RX3 and, taking a deep breath, he looked back at the Fairlady Z and, muttering low enough so that Matsuda would not hear him, he said:

'We will beat him.'

Exactly ten minutes later, the second round of the very last race of the 1976 JTCC season started and, just as expected, Bunta quickly found himself pressured by Yamazaki. It didn't help that Bunta had a much slower car right in front of him but, at least, he managed to clear the First turn in front of the RX3.

Thanks to Matsuda's hard work the L28E no longer vibrated in a weird way. Unfortunately, it also seemed to have lost a little power in the process making Bunta think that, if things got really bad, he could always resort to the tactic which had allowed him to keep up with Yamazaki during the first stint after all, with brand new tyres, he had all the grip he needed.

At the end of the first lap, with Yamazaki still firmly stuck behind him, he saw that the marshals had the yellow flags out and, right in front of them, they saw a couple of the cars which preceded them as they started getting towed away.

'Two less to worry about,' Bunta muttered.

Not only that but, under yellow flags he didn't have to worry about Yamazaki either since he could not overtake him. For this reason, Bunta decided to push a little the Nissan and, while he still could, try and increase the gap between them and, with a bit of luck, maybe overtake one or two cars.

He had just managed to stick himself to the back of a white Celica when he felt the Mazda behind him graze the rear bumper of his Nissan. Not having the time to worry about how the heck had Yamazaki got this close this quickly, Bunta decided to risk everything and, right at the entrance of the Dunlop corner, he moved towards the inside of it, hoping he'd have the room to pass the Celica.

Meanwhile, Yamazaki did the same but taking the outside and, soon enough, the poor Toyota's driver found himself sandwiched between two crazed cars while they tried to get ahead of each other. Bunta knew that he only had a few metres before the track twisted in a way which would favour Yamazaki so, praying so that the L28E would give him all it had without breaking down on him, he floored the accelerator while letting all four tyres grip the tarmac like there was no tomorrow.

His jaw set, his arms steeled against the steering wheel, he fought the urge to close his eyes so that he wouldn't see what was going to happen when, coming out of the fast corner, the two cars left the Toyota behind and, with just a hair between the two of them, Bunta somehow managed to keep his car in front of the Mazda.

Only when he was more or less sure that Yamazaki would stay there, Bunta allowed himself to breathe while being fully aware that the truce would not last.

In fact, in the following corner, with a Mitsubishi ahead of them, Yamazaki crossed right behind him and prepared to take the inside of the corner. Bunta, going against his own best judgement and following a last second whim, he decided to only pretend he was going outwards but then, right when he saw the Mazda beginning to level with his Nissan, he accelerated a little, enough for him to close the gap and plant his car right in front of the RX3.

Then, before neither had the time to start accelerating to overtake the Mitsubishi, something happened to one of its tyres that sent it in a wild spin right towards the Mazda and the Nissan. Bunta knew that unless he moved out of the way, the Mitsubishi would hit him.

He hadn't even finished completing that thought when he felt a tremendous thud coming from behind and, before he could realise what had happened, he felt the Nissan first lose traction in all four tyres then, following the inertia it already had, it just shot forward at a much faster speed than the L28E would have managed.

Bunta only heard the horrible crashing sound an instant later.

Feeling the deepest consternation, he tried to figure out what had happened but, with his car launched like a bullet the only thing he could see that the portion of the track immediately behind him was empty: both the Mitsubishi and Yamazaki's Mazda seemed to have simply vanished.

_To be continued…_


	68. Chapter Sixty Seven

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty Seven_

Approaching the hairpin Bunta fought the instinct which wanted him to brake so that he could see what had happened to Yamazaki and the only thing which kept him going was the fact that he knew Sakamoto would be very unimpressed if he saw his driver stop right in the middle of a race.

The urge to slow down became even stronger when, driving through the Crossover section on the part which made the circuit's characteristic eight-shape, he saw Yamazaki's Mazda rejoining the track. He had cleared the Casio Triangle and was heading towards the track's main straight when he felt his foot lift from the accelerator. Right at that moment, he saw Sakamoto at the wall holding a sign for him:

KEEP GOING.

Bunta's lips curved upward at the same time as his foot pressed the accelerator once again. His team really knew him too well for his own good. Thinking rationally, Yamazaki would probably have enough time to recover so, in reality, the older racer didn't need Bunta's help.

With only a couple of laps to go and after having performed a series of kamikaze-like overtaking manoeuvres, Bunta's 280Z cleared the Gyaku Bank's corner glued to the car in first position, a silver Subaru Leone 1400RX the driver of which was proving to be all too good at defending himself when, glancing at his rear view mirrors, a very tired Bunta saw Yamazaki's black and orange Mazda.

'Great,' he muttered to himself sarcastically, 'just what I needed.'

He had been expecting it. He knew that Yamazaki was good enough to catch up with him but he also knew that neither his car nor his body could afford the kind of battle the Mazda's menacing present promised. And he still had to overtake the Subaru.

Bunta was also very aware that Yamazaki's racing career had just a few more kilometres ahead and that if they didn't fight it off as they both wanted, Bunta would always regret it. For this reason, as they entered the Dunlop turn, he decided to ignore the Subaru, the ailing L28E and the fact that his fever was probably getting dangerously high and, lifting his foot from the accelerator, he let Yamazaki get closer.

The two of them cleared the high-speed corner together and, by the time they got to Degner, Yamazaki's RX3's front bumper was already grazing Bunta's Z's front one. Not happy with that, Bunta veered inwards while they exited the corner and, by the time they made it to the next, a very sharp right-hander, Bunta levelled his car with Yamazaki's thus issuing a direct challenge.

'What is he doing?' Kumiko asked after hearing the description of the action through the circuit's speakers.

Yuuichi didn't answer to that, he just shrugged and readied himself for what he knew would be a battle to remember. Fuka just smiled while, at the Sakamoto Racing Team pitbox, everyone just shook their heads in defeat.

'Well,' Sakamoto said, 'at least he's giving a good show.'

'Yeah,' Yoshida agreed.

'I don't know you,' a _smiling_ Matsuda said all of a sudden, 'but I haven't had this much fun watching a race in years.'

Everyone stared at the engineer with equally astonished expression on their faces. Even Sakamoto, who had worked with Matsuda for the best part of a decade had never seen him smile like that. Come to think of it, he didn't think he'd seen the guy smile at all…

Meanwhile, a hot and sweaty Bunta took a deep breath and taking the chance they had a very short straight before the hairpin, he closed his eyes in an attempt to clear his increasingly blurry vision. He knew that what he was doing was nothing short of suicidal but, for some reason, he felt happy.

Just as he predicted, Yamazaki overtook him at the hairpin but, instead of driving away using the high speed 200R's corner, as Bunta thought he would, he insisted on keeping close enough to Bunta so that he could easily overtake him if he wanted to.

The two of them drove up to the Spoon and, there, Bunta resisted the temptation to accepting Yamazaki's invitation. He knew that if he overtook him at that precise instant, the older racer would still have one and a half laps to pass him, plenty for a driver as good as Yamazaki.

Bunta followed him through the Crossover and through the Casio Triangle chicane and, just as the two of them were half way through the main straight, Bunta realised that the silver Subaru was slowing down too. He had only started to wonder what was wrong with the Leone when, coming from the front of the car he saw a copious amount of smoke.

The engine gone, the poor guy had no choice but to pull over and stop his Subaru just at the exit of the pitlane.

Seeing this made Bunta fear for his own L28E which, by some sort of miracle, had managed to keep running throughout the whole race but, just in case, he prayed so that engine would keep on running for the five and a half kilometres they had left also because, with the Subaru out of the picture, if he managed to overtake Yamazaki where he hoped he would, he would also win the race.

With that very motivating thought in mind, Bunta followed Yamazaki through the whole length of the circuit feeling grateful that the two had such a huge advantage with the rest of the group that they could both take it so easy that Bunta even had time to wipe some of the sweat of his brow.

Using up the short time they used to cover the first four kilometres, he tried to gather what little energy he had left and, right when they approached the 130R, he took a deep breath and readied himself for what he knew would be the last chance he'd have to get past Yamazaki.

Making sure he stayed glued to the RX3's rear bumper, he followed Yamazaki's line with pinpoint precision then, right at the moment when they both entered the Casio Triangle chicane, he drifted towards the left so that he could take the left-hand corner in the inside then, just as he expected, Yamazaki moved inwards too.

Instead of cutting the chicane, Bunta kept on the line he'd drawn in his mind. He knew that if he moved an inch from where he was, Yamazaki would not hesitate to push him out of the track but, he was just as sure that Yamazaki wanted him to finish the race.

His gamble proved right and, as the two cars entered the following section of the chicane, a tight right-hander, Bunta decided that it was now or never: using what little extra power he'd reserved for the occasion, he pushed his way forward entering the circuit's final corner with just enough advantage to make it onto the straight first.

Less than a hundred meters away he saw the finish line where the race director waited for them with the chequered flag, Bunta floored the accelerator while glancing sideways to see that Yamazaki's Mazda was just half a car behind him.

Knowing that the Fairlady Z's had nothing left in it, Bunta shut his eyes and hoped for the best. He didn't even want to see what happened and decided to leave it all to fate when, crossing the line, the L28E shuddered violently and, right then, it blew up on him.

That forced Bunta to stop by the pitlane's wall. It was over. The race, and his experience in JTCC had come to an end and, for a fleeting instant, he felt such a twirl of emotions invading his body that he didn't even care about the outcome of the battle.

He barely noticed that Yamazaki had stopped the RX3 right in front of him. Because of this, he was surprised to see the older racer standing outside his car, knocking on his window.

'Hey,' Yamazaki said.

Bunta looked up feeling rather disoriented.

'You're okay?' Yamazaki then asked, this time sounding concerned.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied then, making an effort, he got the door open and, unfastening his seatbelt, he climbed out of the car and, right then, he finally took notice of just how weak he was. Using one hand to lean on the frame of the car's door, he removed his helmet with the other and then, he gathered enough courage to look up at the timings scoreboard, 'what the…'

'Congratulations,' Yamazaki said putting his hand forward, 'this was the best race ever.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said briefly shaking hands with him.

'Let me ask you something,' Yamazaki said, 'why did you wait for me?'

Bunta let out a chuckle.

'Why did you push me out of the way?' he asked instead.

Yamazaki just smiled and said:

'I think that the answer to both questions is the same.'

'Yeah,' Bunta said.

'Like I said,' the older racer continued, 'I wish we had met ages ago: you're one heck of a racer.'

'Look who's talking,' Bunta said with a smirk.

Yamazaki smiled again and, right at that moment, Sakamoto, Matsuda and Yoshida jumped over the wall to join the two drivers. Bunta felt eternally grateful when Matsuda and Yoshida decided to take it upon themselves to help Bunta make his way to the pitbox for, in all honesty, he didn't think he could walk in a straight line.

'You need to see a doctor,' Yoshida said.

'Sorry about the engine,' Bunta said ignoring Yoshida and looking at Matsuda.

'Kid,' the engineer said, 'I've been working with engines my whole life and, to be honest, I didn't think it would last for as long as it did, especially since you did everything but taking it easy.'

'Yeah, well…'

'Fujiwara,' an emotional Sakamoto said, 'what do I need to do to get you to stay?'

'Sakamoto-san…'

'Come on,' a circuit marshal interrupted him, 'you need to go to the podium,' he said pointing at Bunta, Yamazaki and Sakamoto. Meanwhile a few of his colleagues were already trying to push the Nissan and the Mazda back into the pitlane.

The ceremony was less than five minutes long during which Bunta did his best to stay upright. He knew that Yoshida was right and that he desperately needed, if not medical assistance, to get a few hours of continued sleep.

An eternity later, after going through a boring press conference and only after the Sakamoto Racing Team got their prize for their win in the Suzuka 1976 JTCC race, they gathered at the pitbox where they were joined by Yuuichi, Fuka and Kumiko. Even Yamazaki was there for long enough to say:

'I'll be keeping an eye on your career.'

For the umpteenth time, Bunta felt that he too wished he'd met him before and, bowing at him, he said:

'Thanks for being a great rival.'

Placing his index and middle fingers on his temple, Yamazaki offered him a military-like salute and, with that, the older racer went to join his own team for what Bunta suspected, would be a very emotional good-bye party. After that, the guy would finally go home to his wife and enjoy his new racing-free life.

'Are you okay?' Bunta heard Kumiko ask him.

'Yeah,' he replied.

'No he's not,' Yoshida said, 'you need to come with me to the clinic.'

'He's sick?' Yuuichi asked.

'No, I'm not,' Bunta replied, 'I just need some rest.'

'Bunta…'

'Yoshida-san,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I'll just sleep in the van while they pack things up.'

'Fujiwara-san,' Kumiko said, 'I think you've got the flu, you'll need some medicine for…'

'No,' Bunta replied resolutely, 'I'm okay so stop fussing.'

With that, he turned round and, grabbing his bag from one of the chairs in the pitbox, he walked out of it and headed to the paddock where they had parked the van and the truck. Bunta knew that he was being very rude but, right now, he really needed to lie down and rest.

'It's nothing personal,' Yoshida said seeing Kumiko's sad expression.

'It's a man thing,' Fuka added, 'they don't want us girls to think they're weak.'

'That's right,' Yuuichi confirmed.

Kumiko didn't say anything to that but, glanced at the still opened door from which Bunta had left the pitbox and, sighing, she looked back at Fuka and Yuuichi and said:

'Since we can't do anything to help, can we go home now?'

'Of course,' Yuuichi replied.

A couple of minutes later Bunta lifted his head just enough to see the Mazda Capella leaving the parking area. That made him feel even worse but he knew that in his current condition and all things considered, he really didn't know how to deal with Kumiko at the moment. Besides, he still needed to settle a very important matter with Sakamoto.

But that too could wait…

Bunta only woke up when, a couple of hours later, Matsuda shook him as gently as he could.

'Hey kid,' he said, 'we've finished tidying up, are you ready to go home?'

'Yes, I am,' Bunta said sleepily.

'How are you feeling?' Matsuda asked him.

'No idea,' Bunta replied honestly.

'You should do what that lady friend of yours said and take some medicine,' Matsuda said.

'Yeah, I probably should,' Bunta conceded then, he asked, 'where's Sakamoto-san?'

'He's talking to Yoshida-san,' the engineer replied, 'I think he's still trying to convince him to help him talk you into staying in the team but he's just wasting his breath, isn't he?'

Bunta looked away for an instant then, he nodded once.

'I'm sorry,' he said.

'Not as much as I am,' Matsuda said frankly, 'but I already said this: you belong out there on the roads. Circuits like these are too small for you.'

'Traitor,' Sakamoto said, coming out of nowhere. Yoshida was following him.

'You know I'm right,' an unfazed Matsuda said. Bunta looked from him to Sakamoto and back and waited to see what happened next. Matsuda, Yoshida and the rest of the team also seemed to wait to see what their manager did.

'Fujiwara,' he finally said, 'what do you want to do?'

Bunta looked at Yoshida and, climbing out of the van, he stood there as steadily as he could and then said:

'Matsuda-san's right: you have given me the opportunity of a lifetime and I thank you for it but, while driving in circuits such as this one is fun, I miss racing on real roads.'

Yoshida nodded his approval.

'I see,' Sakamoto said, 'well, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.'

'Thank you,' Bunta said then, looking around at every member of the team, he repeated, 'thank you very much for everything you've taught me. Even if it was a short time, it's been an honour to work with all of you.'

With that, he bowed and, getting up, he swayed a little.

'Whoa…' Yoshida said holding him by his arm, 'if you're done being cool, can you now start being reasonable and see a doctor?'

'Er…'

'Come on kid,' Matsuda said, 'let him take you to the clinic, or are you afraid of needles?'

Bunta lifted his eyebrows and, just to prove a point, he removed his arm from Yoshida's grasp and, trying to walk as resolutely as possible, he made his way to the square-ish building which contained the circuit's clinic.

'I'll make sure he gets home,' Yoshida said.

'Here,' Matsuda said handing him Bunta's bag, 'good luck with him.'

'You'll need it,' Sakamoto added.

Yoshida smiled at them before he followed Bunta, catching up with him so that the two could walk together. That simple and relatively painless way how was the Sakamoto Racing Team said their goodbyes to the driver who had made them win the final event of the season in a truly memorable race.

A couple of days later, Bunta was still recovering from the flu when he was woken up by a soft knock on his bedroom's door. He knew very well who was behind it so, getting up, he said:

'What is it?'

'There's a phone call for you,' Kumiko said.

Not caring about the fact that he was still in his pyjamas, Bunta opened the door and asked:

'Who is it?'

'Kogashiwa-san,' Kumiko replied.

Bunta looked at her very briefly then, shaking his head he went down the stairs wondering what that rascal wanted from him. It was pretty freaky because he had been thinking of calling him but this way was much better. Picking up the receiver, he said:

'What's up?'

'Fujiwara,' Kogashiwa's annoyed voice said, 'I'm fine too, thanks for asking.'

'Come on,' Bunta said, 'inter-prefecture phone calls are expensive, what do you want?'

'It's me who's calling!' Kogashiwa complained but, before Bunta could retort, he said, 'anyway, do you have a few minutes for me? I need to tell you something.'

'Oh,' Bunta gasped, 'that sounds formal.'

'If you continue being a twat, I'll hang up,' Kogashiwa threatened.

'Is that a promise?' Bunta challenged. He smiled when he heard Kogashiwa's frustrated sigh and, deciding to be merciful, at least this once, he said, 'okay, let's meet up by the lake, you think you can make within half an hour?'

'Of course I can,' Kogashiwa said.

'Good,' Bunta replied, 'I'll see you there.'

With this, he replaced the receiver onto its cradle while his mind started wondering what it was that Kogashiwa wanted to tell him. Probably another challenge to yet another race which, naturally, he'd end up winning. Oh well, he hadn't had a proper challenge in such a long time that he was looking forward to some street racing again, even if it was against Kogashiwa.

Padding up the stairs, he walked past Kumiko who looked like she wanted to say something but Bunta, who had successfully avoided any confrontation with her ever since the race in Suzuka, wasn't quite ready to talk to her. Instead, he stepped back into his room and, closing the door, went to get changed so that he could go out.

A few minutes later, a fully dressed Bunta went back downstairs and, grabbing his jacket and the keys to his 2000GT, he decided he was ready to go when he found Kumiko standing by the door which separated the living room from the shop's working area. She was obviously waiting for him.

'Where are you going?' she asked.

'Out,' he replied simply.

'You can't,' was her surprising remark.

'What?' Bunta asked.

'You can't go out,' she repeated then, for clarity, she added, 'you're sick.'

'I'm not _that _sick,' he said, 'besides it's just a drive up the lake.'

'You had a very high temperature when Yoshida-san brought you back from Suzuka,' she said, 'I think you still have some fever,' she continued and, to prove a point, was about to place her hand onto his forehead when Bunta took a step backwards.

'I'm okay,' he said a little too brusquely then, some cruel instinct made him say, 'you're not here to look after me, you're here to look after my uncle so, get on with it and leave me alone.'

Realising he'd just been a total jerk, Bunta hurried out of the living room and, kicking his shoes in the best way he could, he nearly ran out of the shop and a moment later he was already inside his Toyota trying to understand the reason why he felt so edgy around her.

He knew that she was probably kind to him only because he was sick and, as a nurse, it was only natural that she would offer him her help to get better but, for some weird reason, he felt that the way she was nagging him, rather than being like a nurse to a patient, was like a wife to her husband and Bunta found it funny how he didn't really mind the idea.

Making a mental note to try and apologise to her later, he made sure his shoes were properly tied up then, inserting the key into the ignition, enjoyed the beautiful rumble coming from under the hood. He would never get tired of that sound. Never ever.

Needless to say, he made it up to the lake with plenty of time to spare and, climbing out of the 2000GT, he went to get a can of soda from a nearby vending machine. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to drink that stuff while taking the medicine the doctor had insisted on prescribing but, deciding he didn't care, he took a large gulp and, leaning against his car, he waited for Kogashiwa to show up.

'About bloody time,' he said when nearly ten minutes later he saw the dark blue Nissan coming up the road. He waved at Kogashiwa so that he would park near his Toyota and then waited until he got out of his car.

'Been waiting long?' he asked Bunta.

'Ages,' he replied.

'Sorry,' Kogashiwa said without actually meaning it.

'I almost got old waiting for you,' Bunta insisted.

'Whatever,' Kogashiwa said. The man was clearly not in the mood for one of their verbal battles and Bunta felt slightly cheated, 'look, I don't have time,' Kogashiwa said, 'I have to get back home in about an hour.'

'Why?' Bunta said, 'it's only three o'clock in the afternoon.'

'I have an appointment at four with my wife,' he said.

'Wife?' Bunta asked raising his eyebrows, 'I didn't know you were married.'

'What?' Kogashiwa said looking amused, 'were you expecting an invitation to the wedding?'

Bunta didn't even bother to grace that question with an answer.

'Anyway,' Kogashiwa said, 'the fact that I have a wife has a lot to do with what I wanted to tell you.'

'And that is?' Bunta asked him.

'I'm giving up rallying,' Kogashiwa announced so suddenly that Bunta nearly chocked with his soda. He started coughing so violently that even Kogashiwa felt like patting him on the back, 'are you okay? Now that I look at you, you're looking a bit pale.'

'I'm not pale,' Bunta countered defensively, 'it's just a bit of flu, that's all.'

For some reason, Kogashiwa jumped backwards and decided to remain within what he judged to be a reasonable distance. From there, he ignored Bunta's scowl and continued his speech:

'I heard you're about to start competing in the All Japan Rally Championship.'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'and I thought so were you.'

'No,' Kogashiwa said, 'unfortunately for me, I couldn't get the sponsorship I needed.'

'But what about your team?' Bunta asked, 'if I remember correctly, you were in a pretty important team a few years ago. Can't they get the funds elsewhere?'

It looked as though as Kogashiwa was having trouble answering that question but, ultimately, it seemed like he chose to tell him the truth so, taking a deep breath and visibly bracing himself for what he thought would happen, he said:

'I was never part of that team, not officially, they only entered me in a few races but it never went beyond that.'

'What?' was Bunta's shocked reaction.

'Look,' Kogashiwa said, 'rallying is very different from circuit racing. In rallying, teams drop you like a hat if you're not what they want. Rallies are even more expensive affairs than circuit racing and most of the teams are quite strapped for cash so the more sponsors you bring into the team, the better.'

'But…'

'I heard about the team that Yoshida guy is forming for you and I hope, for his own sake, you do well with them. Otherwise it's going to be pretty embarrassing for him to justify the amount of money Toyota will invest in you.'

Once again, Bunta refused to reply to that.

'At any rate,' Kogashiwa continued, 'even if I could find the sponsors, soon I'll have a much bigger priority in my life so, I can't keep on playing around. It's time for me to grow up and behave like the adult I am.'

Bunta looked at him, he frowned and said:

'What's happened to you man?'

'My wife's pregnant,' Kogashiwa replied.

'Wow,' Bunta said, 'so, in addition to being married, you're also going to be a father.'

'Yeah,' Kogashiwa said, 'and, to be honest, I think my wife is right: up until it was just the two of us, it was fine if I wasn't serious about finding a proper job but, now that we have a child on the way, I need to start thinking of providing my family with a steady income.'

Bunta didn't find any flaw on his reasoning.

'But don't worry,' Kogashiwa continued, 'I'm still going to race you anytime you want. Just call me and I'm sure we'll be able to arrange something suitable.'

'Are you sure the wife won't mind?' Bunta half-challenged.

'No,' Kogashiwa said, 'she's not that restricting, she's just understandably worried about our child's future and since I happen to share that concern, I'm going to do my best to ensure that his or her future will be a bright one.'

'That's commendable,' Bunta said seriously.

'It is,' Kogashiwa said, 'I'm actually looking forward to being a father. I'm sure I'll do a very good job at it.'

'You're as modest as usual,' Bunta commented sarcastically.

'Not modest,' Kogashiwa said, 'just realistic.'

Bunta laughed and, with a nod, he said:

'Have it your way.'

'As always,' Kogashiwa replied then, walking towards his car, he said, 'I mean it, if you want a race, let me know, the only condition is that we race here in Akina.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'Beating you anywhere else is meaningless,' Kogashiwa replied and, before Bunta could say anything to that, he climbed into his car and, a few seconds later, he was already speeding down the pass leaving Bunta alone with his thoughts.

_To be continued…_


	69. Chapter Sixty Eight

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty Eight_

Bunta spent a few minutes standing on the same spot where he'd been when Kogashiwa had left when, realising it was rather cold, he decided to get back into his 2000GT so that he could go back home and, hopefully, get back in bed so that he could get some much needed rest.

While driving down Mt Akina, he started thinking of what Kogashiwa had told him. In reality, he was rather mad at his rival for quitting rallying but if he wanted to be fair, he more than understood the predicament his friend was in.

Yes, racing was great and a lot of fun and there were very few things which could make him feel so free but that was nothing when compared to having a child, especially when you wanted it as much as Kogashiwa obviously did. All things considered, he thought that Kogashiwa was going to be a pretty decent father.

This made him think of the huge scare courtesy of Midori earlier on that year.

It was odd for him to think it had been such a short time ago since, with all the things which had happened to him over the summer and what was left of autumn, he felt like it had been years instead of mere months.

At just twenty three years of age, he suddenly felt rather old.

With this gloomy thought, he parked his car outside the shop and, stepping into the working area, he started thinking of a good way to apologise to Kumiko for his less than polite behaviour when, instead of the nurse, he found his uncle sitting by himself at the living room.

Eikichi was quietly sipping some of the herbal tea Kumiko insisted on making for him while he watched some wildlife documentary on TV when, hearing his nephew, he put the steamy cup down and, turning to face Bunta, he frowned.

'Hi,' Bunta said while removing his shoes, 'what are you doing up?'

'I should ask the same thing to you,' Eikichi countered.

'Er…'

'But I won't,' he said, 'because Kumi-chan told me you were out.'

'Yeah,' Bunta confirmed. He then sat down on the opposite side of the table and continued, 'Kogashiwa wanted to talk to me: he's going to be a father and his wife wants him to quit racing so that he can find himself a proper job.'

'Is that so?' Eikichi asked sounding mildly interested.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'he agrees with her though. I don't blame him…with a kid on the way.'

'Kogashiwa's a wise kid,' Eikichi said and, before Bunta could protest, he asked, 'does that change your plans for the future?'

Bunta shrugged his shoulders and, shaking his head, he said:

'Not really. It would have been a lot better if he was around, he'd be someone I know.'

'Yeah,' Eikichi said.

The two men remained quiet for a bit then, just as Bunta was about to get up to go upstairs, Eikichi frowned again and seemed to think carefully about what he wanted to say. Bunta swallowed for he knew that, whenever his uncle did that, he was probably in trouble.

'Bunta,' he finally started, 'is there anything else you need to tell me?'

'Eh?'

'Because I hope you know that if there's anything you would like to discuss with me.'

'Eikichi,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'You don't?' Eikichi asked and, this time, he seemed to have trouble hiding his scepticism.

'Yeah, I…'

'Then,' Eikichi interrupted him, 'you and Kumi-chan aren't together, are you?'

'What?' he exclaimed, 'where did you get that from?'

'Bunta,' Eikichi said, 'I'm probably not as sharp and my body is a lot weaker than it used to be but that doesn't mean I don't see or hear things. I know for a fact that you and Kumi-chan went out together not too long ago.'

'Don't tell me,' an annoyed Bunta said, 'Yuuichi and Fuka…'

'Who else?' Eikichi replied with a smirk, 'in any case, I want to know the reason why you went against what I told you regarding Kumi-chan. The poor girl has had enough troubles in her life without needing you to play around with her feelings.'

'What?' Bunta asked scandalised, 'I…'

'Am I wrong?' Eikichi asked.

'Yes!' Bunta exclaimed, 'very wrong,' he replied then, as if he'd been holding it all up, he said, 'in fact, if there's someone who's been playing with someone else's feelings that's your dear Kumi-chan. I…I…I just don't know what to do about her anymore.'

He let his head hang and waited to see what Eikichi said next. Then, without any of the accusative tone he'd used earlier, he asked:

'You like her?'

Bunta just nodded once without looking up.

'You really like her, don't you?'

Bunta nodded once again.

'Then what's the problem?'

That made him look up, shrugged his shoulders and trying to laugh it off, he said:

'I don't know, I guess she doesn't find me as charming as I find her so don't worry, your Kumi-chan's safe.'

Eikichi frowned and tilted his head as though as he was having trouble recognising his nephew in the insecure man he had sitting in front of him. The old man thought that Midori had really messed up with Bunta's ability to read between the lines when it came to women and their often confusing actions.

For this reason, he decided to try and help him a bit.

'Bunta,' he said, 'the reason why I told you to stay away from Kumi-chan was because, after seeing the kind of women you usually went for, I didn't think she'd be your type. I knew all too well that even if you didn't try, she'd end up falling for you and…'

'What?' Bunta interrupted him, 'she's not…'

'Let me finish,' Eikichi admonished, 'she _is _in love with you. Maybe she hasn't even admitted it to herself but, you only need to look at the way she behaves when you're around. She's so bad at hiding it that even that brat and his wife have figured it out.'

'Well,' Bunta said, 'she's surely fooled _me_.'

'No,' Eikichi countered, 'you just need to be honest to yourself.'

'What do you mean?'

'I think that you've been trying to pretend you didn't understand what she's been trying to tell you so that you could blame her for not wanting you,' Eikichi explained, 'it's a rather twisted way to protect yourself but, after what you've been through, I think it's rather understandable.'

Bunta remained quiet again trying to take his uncle's words in. He knew that he'd been afraid of opening his heart up to anyone after what Midori had done with his feelings for her. He also knew that Kumiko had every reason to be just as wary of him because he'd dated her older sister.

Looking into their situation from an outsider's point of view, what Eikichi had just told him made a lot of sense: both he and Kumiko had been running around each other in circles and it was due time one of them stopped.

'Alright,' Bunta said getting up from the floor.

'Where are you going?' Eikichi asked.

'I'm going to talk to her,' he replied.

'What are you going to say?'

'I have no idea,' Bunta replied, 'I guess I'll figure it out once I see her.'

Eikichi laughed softly before saying:

'It's not the best of plans.'

'I know, but I'll do my best,' Bunta said with a smirk.

'Then God help her,' Eikichi countered.

Bunta chose to ignore that last comment and, walking out of the living room, he put his shoes back on and, thinking that he'd get the rest he needed later, he walked past the 2000GT and made his way to her apartment on foot.

Five minutes later, he was standing outside the door and had his finger on the buzzer when, all of a sudden, the door opened and Kumiko appeared in front of him. She looked understandably surprised and, for a moment there, Bunta wanted to laugh at her.

'Hi,' he said instead.

'Fujiwara-san,' she half-whispered.

'Going out?' he asked immediately feeling stupid for asking such an obvious question.

'Yes,' she replied nevertheless, 'I'm supposed to start my shift in half an hour.'

'Ah…'

'Is there anything I can help you with?' she asked.

'Well...' Bunta hesitated. His poorly made up plan required at least enough time for them to sit down and talk, hopefully somewhere private and, right now, he didn't think it'd be decent to ask her to let him in her apartment. He had just completed the thought when Kumiko fully opened the door and said:

'You should come in, it's cold outside and you're still sick.'

'Er…'

'Please,' Kumiko begged, 'I'm not trying to nag, it's just that it'd be bad if Eikichi-san caught it too.'

Bunta nearly felt like turning round and leave. Instead, he nodded.

Then, following inside the small place, she removed her shoes and coat and waited for Bunta to do the same before leading him into the spotlessly clean living room. Bunta found it surprising that it was so nicely decorated and, in addition to a white two-seater sofa, she also had a small wooden table and a plush cream coloured carpet.

He noticed that she had no TV but, instead, she had a case full of books and heaps of magazines and, through the curtains, he saw that there was a small balcony with some plants on it. He could imagine her taking care of them whenever she had some free time.

'Please take a sit,' he heard her say pointing at the sofa, 'I don't have coffee but I can make you some tea.'

'Tea will be perfect,' Bunta said.

'Okay,' she said stepping into the kitchenette. While she busied herself there, Bunta started trying to figure out a way to start the conversation and, after failing to come up with something half-decent, he decided to just go with the flow so, when she finally got back into the living room, placing a steaming cup in front of him, he waited till she sat down next to him to say:

'You're probably wondering what I'm doing here.'

'More or less,' was her cryptic reply.

'Yeah,' Bunta said scratching the back of his head nervously, 'well…I wanted to apologise for earlier.'

'Oh,' she gasped.

'And for my behaviour in the past few days,' he added, 'I know I've been quite difficult and…'

'You're sick,' Kumiko interrupted him, 'it's a known fact that sick people have very little patience so don't worry, I'm used to it.'

'You shouldn't be,' he countered, 'at least not with me.'

'What…'

'Kumiko,' he said, 'I've said this before but I think I wasn't clear enough.'

'Fuji…'

'I like you,' he said.

'Fuji…'

'A lot,' he insisted, 'in fact, I like you so much that I've been pretending that I didn't know that you feel the same way about me,' he said and, before she could deny it, he pressed on, 'because you like me. Whether you want to admit it or not, you like me.'

'Fujiwara-san…'

'Stop running away from me,' he said and, this time, his sounded almost like a plea.

'Fujiwara-san…'

'And call me Bunta,' he demanded.

Kumiko remained quiet and after taking a deep breath, she sighed and, nodding once, she said:

'You're right.'

'About what?' Bunta pushed.

'About everything,' she replied.

'So say it,' Bunta said.

'What?' Kumiko asked sounding slightly scandalised.

'Say that you like me,' Bunta dared her, 'I want to hear it.'

'Fuji…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted her, 'use my name.'

'I can't,' she said blushing so violently that it looked like she had a fever too.

'Why not?' Bunta asked her.

'Because…'

'It's easy,' he interrupted her sounding positively amused, 'only four words: "Bunta, I like you".'

Kumiko's eyes widened and, for a few painful moments, Bunta thought that everyone was wrong and that he'd just got in way over his head into this whole thing. He waited a little longer and was about to speak when, using a barely audible tone, he heard her say:

'Bunta, I like you.'

Right at that moment Bunta felt like he'd just won the F1 Championship rolled up with the 24 hours in Le Mans. He was even happier than the day he'd got his driving license and, because of this he grabbed one of her small hands with his and said:

'I knew it.'

'Fuji…' she started protesting then, seeing the way he looked at her, she corrected herself, 'Bunta, I…'

'Look,' he said, 'I know you've got to go to the hospital and I need to get some sleep too so that I can get rid of this stupid flu but, I also know that we need to talk about a lot of things so, if you want, I could come and pick you up from work whenever you finish and we could go for a drive somewhere.'

'But…'

'Please,' Bunta said, 'consider it our first date.'

'We went to the cinema together,' she reminded him.

'Yeah, we did,' he agreed, 'but, this time, I'm officially asking you out, again, so, what's your answer?'

She shook her head in defeat and, looking at him, she smiled a little and said:

'We're going to talk, right? You don't…'

'We will _only _talk,' he assured her, 'I'll be a perfect gentleman, I promise.'

Kumiko's smiled a bit more and then, nodding once, she said:

'I finish at ten.'

'I'll be there,' Bunta said resolutely.

'Promise me you'll get some sleep before that,' she said in a very nurse-like way.

Bunta just smiled at her and, nodding, he put his hand on his heart and said:

'I solemnly promise I'll be a good boy and will get plenty of rest.'

Kumiko just shook her head and, half-whispering, she said:

'You're impossible.'

'I know,' Bunta said, his smile becoming a cheeky grin, 'but that's why you like me.'

Without confirming nor denying it, Kumiko got up from the sofa and, looking at the cup of tea, she said:

'You didn't drink your tea.'

Bunta grabbed the tea and, in one go, he downed the whole thing, feeling grateful that it wasn't hot anymore or else he would have burnt his tongue very badly. He then put it back onto the table and, with a lopsided smile, he asked:

'Happy?'

Kumiko smiled and nodded.

'Very,' she said. He got the distinct impression that she wasn't only talking about the fact that he'd drank the tea and, once again, Bunta felt like he'd suddenly grown a good ten centimetres taller. Slowly, he started realising that this was what being in love was supposed to feel like and that whatever he'd felt for Seiko, or Midori for that matter, had never been the real thing.

Putting their shoes and coats back on, Bunta and Kumiko got out of the apartment and, after she closed the door, he walked down the stairs which led to the street and, once there, he asked her if she wanted him to walk her to the hospital.

'No thanks,' Kumiko said.

'Are you sure?' he asked.

'Yes,' Kumiko replied.

'Okay,' Bunta said then, just when she was about to start walking away from him, he said, 'can you say it again?'

'Say what?' a confused Kumiko asked.

'My name,' Bunta replied, 'I want you to say it again.'

'Oh,' Kumiko gasped.

'Please,' Bunta said.

The girl took a deep breath and, blushing furiously, she said:

'Bunta.'

Grinning like there was no tomorrow, Bunta turned round and started making his way back to the shop. For some reason, he found himself whistling some song he'd heard on the radio and that's how Eikichi saw him when he got home.

'Someone's happy,' the old man said.

'Yep,' Bunta replied.

'I take things went well with Kumi-chan,' he asked.

'Of course,' Bunta replied then, before Eikichi had the time to remind him about how insecure he'd been just an hour before, he started walking towards the staircase and, only then, he added, 'I'm going to bed, Kumiko said that if I don't get some sleep she won't let me take her out.'

Eikichi shook his head and, smiling, he hoped that, this time nothing would mess things up with Bunta and Kumiko because, unless he was very much mistaken, he believed that his nephew had finally found the great love of his life. He silently prayed so that his heart would give him enough time to see Bunta settled down, maybe even with one or two kids so that he could, as their honorary grandfather, spoil them silly.

At exactly ten minutes to ten and after having had a shower and eaten some of the curry Fuka had prepared for her husband and the two Fujiwara, Bunta announced that he was going out.

'Can I co…' Yuuichi started.

'Brat,' Eikichi interrupted him loudly, 'go and grab me the paper, will you?'

'S-sure,' Yuuichi said exchanging a glance with his wife who looked even more confused than he was.

Bunta left without giving anyone time to say anything else and, a few moments later they all heard the shop's door closing and the beautiful sound of the 2000GT's engine. Only then, Yuuichi allowed himself to look at Eikichi and ask:

'Where is he going?'

'He's going out with Kumi-chan.'

'Pardon me?' Yuuichi asked unsure he'd heard right.

'My nephew,' Eikichi explained as patiently as a school teacher to his stupid pupil, 'is going out on a date with Kumi-chan.'

'Oh…whoa…'

'Yes,' an amused looking Eikichi said.

'It took them long enough,' Fuka commented intervening in the conversation for the first time.

'Not really,' Eikichi said, 'some things can't be rushed and love, as you two know well, is one of them.'

The couple looked at each other and, unable to debate such a sound logic, they both nodded.

'And now that Bunta is taking care of his own love life,' Eikichi continued, 'don't you think you should start thinking of making people? You've been married for what? Six months?'

'Seven,' a very embarrassed Yuuichi corrected.

'Exactly,' Eikichi said, 'so, since Bunta and Kumiko are out having fun, why don't you two go back home? It'd be nice having the house to myself for once.'

'But…' Fuka protested.

'Don't worry, I promise I won't do anything stupid,' Eikichi said.

'What about the tofu?' Yuuichi asked.

'I'll make it myself,' Eikichi replied, 'and before you ask, yes, I still remember how it's made.'

Yuuichi and Fuka still looked uncertain.

'Go back to your house,' Eikichi insisted, 'it's an order.'

That made the couple widen their eyes and, not daring to argue against Eikichi Fujiwara, they decided to immediately comply with the order and, less than five minutes later, they were on their way to their apartment.

Meanwhile, Bunta's 2000GT was parked outside the Shibukawa General Hospital's main entrance, waiting for Kumiko to finish her evening shift. For the fourth time since he'd arrived he looked at the dashboard's clock: she was now ten minutes late.

He was about to get out of the car to see what was keeping her when he saw her running out of the building. She had her coat in her hand and had a very worried expression on her usually calm face.

'Sorry,' she said when he climbed out of the Toyota to go and get her door open, 'we had some last minute…'

'It's okay,' he said, 'you don't need to explain.'

'I…'

'Please,' he said pointing at the 2000GT's passenger seat. Taking the hint Kumiko stopped trying to apologise and, folding her coat carefully, she sat down and placed it onto her lap, leaving her small handbag by her feet. Only then Bunta closed the door making sure he didn't slam it too hard.

Sliding back behind the wheel, Bunta turned the key in the ignition observing Kumiko's reaction to the engine. As it always happened to those who weren't used to it, she let out a small gasp of surprise which made him smile.

'Have you eaten yet?' he asked.

'Yes,' Kumiko said, 'I always grab something from the cafeteria before the shift.'

'Can I tempt you with some snacks then?' Bunta asked her.

'No thanks,' Kumiko replied, 'I like having a balanced diet.'

Bunta looked sideways at her face, only to see that she was entirely serious about it. Another difference between this girl and the ones he'd dated was that whereas Seiko and Midori were worried about their figure when they didn't want to eat something, Kumiko was probably more concerned about her health.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'then we'll just get some tea once we're up by the lake, do you approve of that plan?'

'Yes, I do,' Kumiko replied.

Smiling, he drove them up Mt Akina and, once they got to the parking area next to the lake, Bunta hurried outside the car to get a couple of cans of green tea. He also got a bag of crisps as a small gesture of defiance and, also, because he simply loved it when she got in full nurse-mode with him.

Sadly, she didn't really say anything so, leaving the pack on top of the dashboard, he opened her can and, giving it to her, he said:

'Before I start talking, is there anything you want to say?'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied.

'What?'

'I don't want to sound too pushy,' she said firmly, 'but I don't want to start seeing someone who doesn't have…' she hesitated then, finding the right words, she said, 'honest intentions.'

'Honest intentions?' Bunta repeated.

'Yes,' Kumiko replied with a slightly less determined tone of voice, 'I…well…'

'Kumiko,' Bunta said very seriously, 'I make it a point in my life to not do anything that's pointless and that very much includes my love life.'

'But…'

'I don't know what Seiko told you about when we were together but, even back then, I thought that your sister and I would end up getting married.'

Kumiko suddenly looked at the can she had in her hands.

'But it never happened,' he said placing one of his hands on top of her so that she would look at him. She didn't. Instead, she removed her hand from under his and speaking with a very sad voice, she said:

'We all know why.'

'Yes,' Bunta said, 'because she wasn't the right girl for me. I now know that it wouldn't have worked with her, just like it hasn't worked with Midori and, the more I get to know you, the more I understand why.'

'You do?' Kumiko said, finally looking at him.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'because the weren't like you. I know it sounds cheesy and a cliché but, with you I feel like I can be myself and that you will never think less of me because of that. I don't know how to explain it better.'

'I think I understand,' Kumiko said and, once again, she smiled at him with one of her small but sweet smiles that he liked so much. She was so adorable that he had trouble keeping his word to be a perfect gentleman, in reality he was positively dying to kiss her but he knew that if he did it, he would blow it forever.

To keep his hands and mouth distracted, he grabbed the pack of crisps and opened his own can of tea and, after taking a large gulp, he said:

'Okay, now here's my request: you know by now how I feel about racing, right?'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied.

'Then,' Bunta said, 'do you think you can be with me even if I keep on racing?'

'Yes,' Kumiko said.

'Are you sure? Racing is a dangerous sport,' Bunta explained.

'I know,' Kumiko said then, looking at him with her usual serious expression, she said, 'the way I see it, racing is a part of yourself you can't get rid of. I'd be very selfish if I asked you to quit so, I won't do that to you.'

To keep himself from kissing her, he took a super-large gulp of green tea and, only when he was sure he would be able to control himself, he looked at her and said:

'Then we have a deal.'

_To be continued…_


	70. Chapter Sixty Nine

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Sixty Nine_

On the day before Christmas Eve and despite being freezing cold, Yuuichi was standing outside his father's petrol station while he waited for Bunta. The crazy guy had just called him to tell him that he fancied going for a drive up Mt Akina since it had snowed copiously during the entire day and he wanted to get some practice on the slippery surface.

'As if he needs it,' Yuuichi muttered to himself.

In any case and since it had been ages since the two of them had got together with their cars, Yuuichi had been happy to accept the invitation, also because goodness knew when it would be the next time Bunta would call him.

At exactly five minutes to nine, he heard the gorgeous roaring sound of the by now infamous 2000GT and just a few moments later, he saw it: Bunta was, as usual, pushing it to its limits but, as always, he had such perfect control of the vehicle that he even managed to drift his way into the petrol station's serving area.

'Hello there,' Bunta said after rolling his window down.

He was smiling in the sort of happy way which made Yuuichi torn between smile back at him or, rather, run away as fast as he could. He chose to do neither, instead, he took his keys out of the front pocket of his thick woollen trousers and said:

'I'll go in front.'

'Fine by me,' Bunta replied.

Ten minutes later, the two cars were climbing up their local mountain pass which was covered by a very thick layer of freshly settled snow. Yuuichi was happy that he had just replaced the tyres but he wished he could have covered them with chains too so that he could have the grip he desperately needed.

Glancing quickly at the rear view mirror, he saw that Bunta didn't share any of his concerns and, if anything, the way he was following him up the road made it look as though as he was almost bored by how easy it was. Yuuichi, once again, shook his head in resignation.

'That crazy Bunta,' he muttered.

He was about to move over so that Bunta could pass him when, right ahead of his Mazda Capella, he saw a very familiar looking red Nissan Fairlady Z and the dark green Honda Civic 1200 which belonged to one of the Akina Firebolts members called Kazuki Izumi.

Without needing to signal him, Bunta stopped his car behind Yuuichi's and the two of them climbed out of their cars at the same time as Masashi and Kazuki started walking down to meet them.

'Hey,' the Akina Firebolts leader said looking at Bunta, 'it looks like we had the same idea.'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'it's been a long time.'

'Hey,' Kazuki complained, 'we still meet up here every week. It's you two who never show up.'

'Sorry,' Yuuichi said.

'Leave them alone Kazuki,' Masashi said, 'you know Yuuichi's married now and Bunta…well why would he drive with us when he's getting paid to do it every day?'

'That's not fair,' Bunta complained.

'Don't misunderstand me,' Masashi said, 'you're our pride and joy, you know that. It's just that I can't remember the last time we all met up. There hasn't been any good challenge recently and…well…'

'What's up?' Yuuichi asked looking concerned.

'You might as well tell them now,' Kazuki said, 'they will find out sooner or later.'

'What's up?' Yuuichi repeated.

'I know it's sudden,' Masashi repeated, 'but it was decided just a couple of days ago.'

'Masashi,' an annoyed Bunta said, 'keep being this mysterious and I'll make you eat snow.'

'He's getting married,' Kazuki blurted out then, smirking, he added, 'to a schoolgirl.'

'A what?' both Bunta and Yuuichi exclaimed. It took a miracle for Yuuichi to stay upright.

'Kazuki!' Masashi admonished, 'if you say it like that you make me look like a pervert.'

'Isn't that what you are?' Bunta asked him, 'I mean…what are you? Twenty seven?'

'I'm twenty six,' Masashi corrected looking slightly annoyed, 'and she's not a schoolgirl…'

'She is,' Kazuki interrupted him then, before Masashi could deny it, he said, 'isn't she in high school?'

'Yeah but…'

'Then she _is _a schoolgirl,' Bunta decided looking like he has having a lot of fun, 'way to go Masashi!'

'Can you all be quiet?' the Firebolts leader said, 'she _won't _be in high school when we get married.'

'And when is that?' Yuuichi asked.

'Like I was trying to explain earlier,' Masashi said glaring at both Bunta and Kazuki, 'my parents and her parents met up to discuss the details a couple of days ago and they decided that we'll get married after she graduates.'

'So, how old is she?' Yuuichi asked.

'She just turned eighteen,' Masashi admitted.

'Oh that should make you feel better,' Yuuichi said talking to Bunta then, seeing the inquisitive looks both Kazuki and Masashi were giving him, he elaborated, 'the girl he's dating is twenty.'

'You're seeing someone?' Masashi asked and when Bunta nodded, he added, 'since when?'

'Two months ago,' Bunta said.

'Tell him who she is,' Yuuichi said then, realising that there would be no way for Bunta to make such an embarrassing confession, he did it for him, 'do you guys remember Seiko-chan?'

'Isn't she the girl you used to date?' Masashi asked looking at Bunta.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied then, before Bunta could come up with a way to kill him painfully, he said, 'it's her little sister Kumiko.'

'You're serious?' Kazuki asked since Masashi seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

'Do you have any problem with that?' Bunta challenged coolly.

'No, no,' Kazuki hurried to reply.

'Wow,' Masashi finally said, 'is Seiko-chan okay with you dating her kid sister?'

'She doesn't know yet,' Yuuichi supplied earning himself a glare from Bunta.

'Oh,' Masashi said grinning furiously, 'if you two get married I so want to be invited to the wedding.'

'If you don't stop smiling right now,' Bunta nearly hissed, 'you might not make it to your own.'

'Hey, I was only joking!' Masashi said but it was too late, Bunta was, once again, smiling in the way which made everyone who knew him want to run and hide. Before they could do anything to prevent it, Bunta pointed at the cars with a slight gesture with his head and, widening his feline smile, he said:

'The last one who makes it to the top buys drinks.'

He then walked back to his 2000GT and, climbing into it, he turned the engine on and waited till everyone follow suit. Then, the very instant the other three cars started moving, with a crazy manoeuvre Bunta overtook all of them and, a few instants later, he was gone.

'It's a good thing I have some coins,' Yuuichi said miserably while he tried to stay behind Kazuki's Honda.

A couple of hours later Yuuichi parked his car at the shop at the usual spot in front of Bunta's 2000GT then, just as they were about to go inside, he remembered that there was something he needed to ask to his best friend.

'Hey Bunta,' he said, 'what are you buying Kumiko-chan for Christmas?'

'Nothing,' Bunta replied, 'she doesn't want to exchange presents,' he explained.

'Why not?' Yuuichi asked.

'No idea,' he replied, 'I just know that she hates Christmas and she specifically told me not go get her anything.'

'What are you going do to tomorrow then?'

'We'll go to the cinema,' Bunta said.

'Again?' Yuuichi asked surprised, 'didn't you go last weekend as well?'

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'but there's a movie she wants to watch that's coming out tomorrow.'

'Geez,' Yuuichi said, 'she surely likes watching movies!'

'She does,' Bunta confirmed, 'which is great if you ask me, going to the movies is a great way to spend time together without having to talk too much,' then seeing the sceptic look Yuuichi was giving him, he added, 'after living with someone like Midori you too would find it refreshing being with someone who talks as little as she does.'

'True,' Yuuichi said then, knowing he was probably pushing it, he asked, 'so, how far have you taken things?'

'That's none of your business,' Bunta replied getting all-too-defensive.

'Okay,' Yuuichi said, 'I take you're still on base two then.'

'On what?' Bunta asked frowning.

'Base two,' Yuuichi said, 'you know, kissing but nothing else.'

'Ah,' Bunta said.

'So, base two then,' Yuuichi said almost talking to himself then, he was about to walk into the shop when, with a very uncharacteristic shy tone of voice, Bunta said:

'Base one.'

'What?' Yuuichi said.

'We're at base one,' he repeated this time sounding annoyed, 'if there's such thing.'

'You two haven't kissed yet?' Yuuichi asked.

'No,' Bunta confessed, 'and if you tell Fuka I'll kill you.'

'No, no,' Yuuichi said, 'it's kind of cute…'

'Yuuichi!'

'Sorry,' he hurried to say, 'it's okay if you take it slow, I mean…'

'Forget it,' an embarrassed Bunta ordered him, 'let's get in, it's too cold.'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi insisted, 'it really is fine. I'm actually proud of you that you're doing things so properly this time. I mean, for once you're not rushing into anything which can only be a good thing.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked him.

'Well,' Yuuichi said, 'I don't know with Seiko but with Midori, you guys went from base zero to third base all too quickly. I think that certain things are better if you take your time, especially with a girl like Kumiko-chan.'

'So you don't think it's weird?' Bunta asked.

'No,' Yuuichi said, 'I think that, for once, you're in a normal relationship and I'm very happy for you.'

'You're disgusting,' Bunta complained but he was relieved to hear what Yuuichi had just told him. It felt good to know that what he had with Kumiko was considered normal for, in reality, that's what Bunta was aiming for: some normality in his increasingly complicated life.

On Christmas Eve, just as he had promised her, Bunta took Kumiko to the movies and like they did every single time they watch a movie together, they spent the entire distance between the theatre and her apartment talking about it.

'I hope they'll make a sequel,' she said while Bunta stopped the car outside her place.

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'the end wasn't really….'

'Final?' she suggested.

'Exactly,' Bunta said, 'they should do a second part so that they can tie things properly.'

'Yes,' Kumiko agreed then, clearing her throat, she looked at her hands and said, 'Bunta…'

'What is it?' he asked, he sworn he would never get used to the warm feeling he got every time she said his name.

'You know when I said I didn't want to exchange presents?'

'Oh no,' Bunta said with dismay, 'don't tell me you've changed your mind? Because I…'

'No,' Kumiko hurried to say, 'it's not like I've changed my mind,' she added.

'Then what is it?' he asked her.

'I…'

'Kumiko,' Bunta said, 'if you wanted something you only needed to tell me, you know I would have bought you whatever you wanted.'

'I know,' Kumiko said, 'but that's not it.'

'Then what is it?' Bunta repeated trying to be patient.

Then, out of the blue, he saw Kumiko get closer to him and, before he even registered what was happening, he found her lips onto his for the briefest of moments and, just as sudden, she withdrew and was about to climb out of the car when she said:

'That's my present for you, Merry Christmas, Bunta.'

It was only his very fast reflexes which made him able to catch her hand before she could get out of the car.

'Wh…'

'Kumiko,' he said with a weird sounding voice, 'you can't possibly do that and then go, you know?'

'But…'

Using her hand, he pulled her back towards him and, cupping her face with his free hand, he kissed her very superficially at first then, seeing that she wasn't trying to get away from him, he deepened the kiss and moved his hand to the back of her head.

'Now,' he said when he stopped kissing her, '_that_ was _my _present. Happy Christmas, Kumiko.'

The girl, instead of getting upset as he half-feared, looked at Bunta as though as she couldn't believe what had happened but then, her lips curved upwards into one of her rare smiles. She blushed a little bit and then she did something which made Bunta very happy: she laughed.

If he wasn't mistaken, it was one of the first times he'd heard her laugh out loud like that. He decided that it was a great sound and made a mental note to try and make her laugh sometime soon. He simply loved the way she looked while she laughed.

'I love you Kumiko,' he said before he could stop himself.

That made her stop laughing.

'What?'

'I love you,' he repeated.

'Bunta…'

'It's okay,' he hurried to say, 'I didn't say it to make you say it back, it just came out like that.'

'But…'

'It's better if you go home now,' he said, 'we both have an early start tomorrow.'

'That's right,' Kumiko said, 'you're meeting with the team tomorrow, right?'

'Yep,' Bunta confirmed, 'so, go home and I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?'

'Alright,' Kumiko said then, she added, 'thank you for yet another lovely evening.'

'No problem,' Bunta replied then, he kissed her again quickly before she climbed out of the 2000GT. He waited till he saw her get inside her apartment and then, feeling rather pleased with himself, he turned the engine back on and started making his way to the shop.

He found Eikichi there looking healthier than he'd done in a very long time, the man was reading the evening paper when Bunta stepped into the living room. Without lifting his eyes from he article he was reading, he said:

'That Kogashiwa brat called you earlier.'

'Really?' Bunta asked, 'did he say what he wanted?'

'Nope,' Eikichi said, 'only that if you could call him back.'

Without replying to that, Bunta went to pick up the receiver and, dialling Kogashiwa's number, blaming it on his excellent memory that made him remember the number by heart, not that he had made any specific effort to remember or anything.

He was still trying to convince himself of that when Ken Kogashiwa answered the phone:

'Hello?'

'It's me,' Bunta said.

'Oh!' Kogashiwa exclaimed, 'listen, I just wanted to ask you something,' he said then, seeing that Bunta wasn't adding anything to the conversation, he carried on, 'is it true that your co-pilot is Sanada Shin?'

'I don't know,' Bunta replied, 'I'm meeting with the team tomorrow.'

'Ah,' Kogashiwa said, 'I heard that he's been involved in a team the Toyota Testing Department has put together. I guessed that's the same team you're going to be racing for and…'

'Kogashiwa,' he interrupted him, 'what if my co-pilot is that Sawada guy?'

'Sanada,' Kogashiwa corrected him sounding slightly annoyed, 'his name is Sanada Shin and, if that's going to be your co-pilot, you're a really lucky guy.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'Because he's an ace,' Kogashiwa replied, 'his skills reading the roads are legendary, the guy is able to trace the ideal race line even before getting to the corner adjusting it to the current conditions. Apparently he's been training in Finland.'

'Finland?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Kogashiwa replied, 'he's been a co-pilot for a couple of Finnish rally drivers.'

'Oh,' Bunta said sounding only mildly impressed.

'Fujiwara!' Kogashiwa said now definitely sounding pissed off, 'do you even understand what I'm talking about? This guy has raced with international racers and you don't even flinch.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Bunta said, 'it's all very impressive,' he added for good measure.

'Why do I even bother?' Kogashiwa asked.

'No idea,' Bunta replied and laughed when Kogashiwa hang up the phone on him. That guy would never learn and a big part of Bunta hoped he would never change because, in reality, he found Kogashiwa to be a endless source of great entertainment.

'I'm going to bed,' he said to Eikichi, 'don't stay up too late or I'll tell Kumiko.'

'Traitor,' Eikichi said with a scowl which made Bunta laugh again.

On Christmas Day it was even colder than it had been up to then and the white-grey clouds which covered the sky threatened a brand new batch of snow but Bunta didn't care, he climbed into his 2000GT after completing the deliveries with the Bellett and started the engine.

He knew the way to Saku City in the neighbouring prefecture of Nagano well enough to know that it would take him just under an hour and a half to get there. He also knew that if it wasn't because most roads were still heavily snowed, he would probably make it there in a lot less than that.

In any case, he remembered his conversation with Kogashiwa and started wondering, not only about the choice for his co-pilot but about the rest of the team and, more especially, about the super-car Yoshida had promised him.

He was getting rather excited, a bit like a kid on his first day of school, only that, this time, he was embarking on his new adventure one that, he hoped, would be just as satisfying as his short experience in JTCC.

Thinking about that made him think of Tetsu Yamazaki. The two of them had not spoken ever since they parted ways at the end of the Suzuka race but, from what he'd read on the papers, Yamazaki was indeed a retired driver. He even refused to go to any races as a guest and had rejected the offer from a TV station to be a commentator.

Not that he blamed him, just the thought of him having to comment on some race or another was enough to make him want to run away. He guessed that if one day he retired from racing, he would do it in the same exact way Yamazaki had done it.

But it was way too early to even think about that.

At around eight in the morning he got to the address Yoshida had sent him. He saw that it was right in the middle of an industrial park in the outskirts of Saku City and that the actual place was a very modern, square building with the walls painted in white.

The gate had no signs or anything which would give away that it was the base of a rally team, in fact, the way it looked like, non-descript and deserted, it was as though as it was still up for rent. Despite that, Bunta pressed the buzzer's button and waited for someone to come outside to open up for him.

'Hello?' he heard someone say instead.

'Hello, I'm Fujiwara,' he said.

'Oh,' the guy said, 'we've been waiting for you, come on in.'

With a loud clicking sound, the gate started moving on its own. Bunta found it quite a little scary to see that the thing was automated since he had never seen one operating before. He got so mesmerized by it that he spent a few moments just looking at it before he realised that he had to drive his car into the place.

He had just parked his car next to a beautifully kept Toyota Corona when he saw a couple of people coming out of the building. One of them was an old balding man who looked to be around Eikichi's age, the other was a rather tall guy who wasn't much older than he was.

'Hello,' Bunta said politely, 'I'm…'

'Fujiwara Bunta,' the young guy said, 'we know, we saw your race in Suzuka, I'm…'

'Sanada Shin,' Bunta said, 'I know, you've trained in Finland, haven't you?'

'Wow,' the guy gasped, 'I'm impressed you know so much about me! Did Yoshida-san tell you?'

'No, he didn't,' Bunta replied, 'but I have my sources.'

'Nice,' he said, 'by the way, can I call you Bunta?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied.

'Cool,' he said, 'you must call me Shin. In Finland they wouldn't call me in any other way.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'my sources say you're quite the monster when it comes to figuring out the ideal racing lines on roads you've never even been on before, is that true too?'

'Oh, that's an exaggeration,' he complained.

'No it's not,' the old man said, 'I'm Sakurai Hidetoshi, I'm the team's manager and people call me Hide.'

'Nice to meet you, Hide-san,' Bunta said bowing politely.

'Come on in,' he said with a smile, 'we'll introduce you to the rest of the team.'

'Where's Yoshida-san?' Bunta asked when he followed the two inside the building.

'He'll come later,' Hide-san said, 'he's quite busy right now with one of his secret projects.'

'You seem to know him quite well,' Bunta guessed.

'I do,' the old man said, 'it was me who got him his job in Toyota. By introducing you to us he's kind of repaying me the favour.'

'Really?' Bunta said.

'Why are you sounding so surprised?' Hide-san asked him.

'No reason,' Bunta replied, 'it's just that I was under the impression that it was Yoshida-san who was doing me a favour by introducing me to you guys…'

'Well,' Shin said, 'if the way you drove in Suzuka is the way you normally drive, then I'd say it's you who'll be doing us a favour. I, for one, would hate having you racing for another team. In fact, I'm quite looking forward to being in the same car with you so that I get to experience it first-hand.'

'Speaking of cars…' Bunta started.

'Come this way,' Hide-san said with a smile.

The three of them finally made it past the team's office and, stepping through a metallic door, Bunta saw a huge room which more than a garage, looked like a NASA laboratory. There were sophisticated instruments everywhere and four other people were found working around a beautiful machine.

'Wow,' Bunta gasped.

'He likes it,' Shin said then, talking to Bunta, he added, 'I reacted the same way.'

'That's a…'

'That,' Hide-san interrupted him, 'it's a Toyota Celica GT-RA28. We've swapped the 18R-G with the competition version of the 18R-GE but don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to get acquainted with it. Now, come I'll introduce you to the rest of the team.'

Bunta barely paid attention to the names of the mechanics, hoping that Yoshida would remind him later of who was who. For now, his brain was solely focused on the beautiful machine he had in front of him. The body was all painted in shiny white but the base was painted black. Another black line was painted a couple of centimetres above the base and, with a pang, he realised that he'd seen the same pattern before: on his uncle Eikichi's Bellett.

'Hide-san,' Bunta said, 'I wonder if I could ask you a very big favour.'

'What is it?' the manager said.

'Would it be okay if I took it for a spin?' Bunta asked pointing at the car with his head.

'You want to do that?' Hide-san asked.

'If that's okay with you guys,' Bunta replied.

'It's a great idea,' Shin said, 'this way we can start getting to know each other.'

'What?' Bunta asked.

'There's a pass I want to check out,' Shin explained, 'and since you want to take the car for a spin, do you know of a better way for us to start training together?'

'No,' Bunta admitted.

'There you go,' Shin said then, looking at their team manager, he said, 'so, what do you say boss, can we go?'

'Sure,' Hide-san said, 'but be careful with it, Yoshida won't be happy if we wreck his creature.'

'His creature?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' the manager said, 'this baby is his department's brainchild. Didn't you know?'

'No,' Bunta replied and, for the first time ever, he realised that Yoshida really was a very important person in Toyota. He had grown so used to his friendly relationship with the guy that he'd forgotten what Yoshida's real job was. He was in awe that his team could produce such beautiful results then, something occurred to him:

'Did he ask you to paint it like that?'

'Yes,' Hide-san replied, 'he said he'd seen the pattern on an awesome car and that you would probably like it.'

'I do,' Bunta said, 'it's perfect.'

'Shall we go?' Shin asked sounding rather eager.

That made Hide-san laugh and, handing the key to Bunta, he said:

'Have fun.'

Bunta nodded once and, taking the key, he followed Shin inside the car where he noticed a very solid looking roll-cage installed inside the car. There were also a couple of Recaro bucket seats and the steering wheel was a lot smaller than what he was used to.

There were a few more dials and gauges than he'd had in the Z and something else which took him by surprise: a radio. He guessed that in rallies it was impossible for any team to get in touch with their drivers unless they installed one of these and he hoped he would soon get used to having someone talking to him during the race.

'What do you think?' Shin asked.

'I'm impressed,' Bunta replied. Another thing he'd have to get used to was his co-pilot. So far, Bunta had always driven solo so having someone else in the car was yet another novelty he had to add to the list.

'Let's go then,' Shin said.

Bunta nodded and, inserting the key into the ignition, he turned on the engine. He was surprised that, instead of the wild roar he expected, the engine sounded very smooth and it had obviously been tuned but, other than that, it was fairly normal.

It was only when he inserted the first gear and he made the car move forward at the same time as the automated gate opened up that he noticed the difference: everything within it had been as perfectly balanced as the blade of a katana.

'Feels great, doesn't it?' Shin asked him once they were out on the road.

'It does,' Bunta replied then, without looking at him, he asked, 'so, where do you want to go?'

'Mt Akina,' Shin replied.

'Are you serious?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes,' Shin said, 'Yoshida-san said that it's the pass you're more familiar with and since I've never been there, I want to see if I can come up with a racing line similar to the ones you've already found there. It'll be a way for you to test my skills.'

'What about my skills?' Bunta asked.

'That's easy,' Shin replied, 'as you know, national rallies, unlike circuit racing, aren't about speed but regularity so we need to make sure that we make it from A to B within the pre-established time. You're already a fantastic driver but you'll need to get used to trusting me when I tell you what to do.'

'That sounds reasonable,' Bunta said.

'Then,' Shin said with a smile, 'as far as I'm concerned, you've passed your test already.'

Bunta observed his co-pilot for a short while before returning his attention to the road. It might be his friendly face or the fact that he was so straight-forward but, for some reason, Bunta decided that he and Shin would make a great team and, for the umpteenth time that month, he couldn't wait for the start of the rallying season.

He was surer than ever: it was going to be a lot of fun.

_To be continued…_


	71. Chapter Seventy

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy_

Bunta was about to zip the bag he was going to take with him to Hokkaido, for the first round of the 1977 All Japan Rallying Championship when he realised that something was missing, he was about to start looking for it when his girlfriend Kumiko stepped into the room.

'Don't forget this,' she said handing him his JFA license.

'Oh,' he said, 'no wonder I couldn't find it anywhere.'

'You left it downstairs,' she explained then, glancing at the bag, she said, 'you've got everything?'

'I think so,' Bunta replied, 'but feel free to check.'

She did just that and seeing the garments he'd stuffed carelessly into the bag, she decided to take everything out and, refolding his clothes, she repacked them for him. Unsurprisingly, things occupied less than half the space they did before. He then saw Kumiko placing a small box she'd been carrying in her pocket.

'What is that?' he asked her.

'A first aid kid,' she replied, 'I put it together yesterday, just in case.'

'That's very thoughtful,' he said, 'thanks.'

'No problem,' she replied blushing a bit then, in order to change topic, she said, 'are you nervous?'

'Nervous?' he asked feeling slightly confused.

'About the trip,' she explained, 'isn't it your first time on a plane?'

'Oh,' he grunted, 'please don't remind me! I still can't believe that Hide-san…why couldn't I simply travel with the team in the truck?'

'You'd get tired from the trip,' Kumiko reasoned, 'that's why you and Sanada-san will travel by plane.'

'What happened to the Shinkansen?' Bunta complained childishly, 'doesn't people use that anymore?'

'It'd take too long,' she said, 'besides, it's kind of exciting, isn't it?'

'What is?' Bunta asked.

'I'd love to fly somewhere,' Kumiko replied, 'it's a little frightening though,' Bunta was about to laugh it off when she added, 'that reminds me, I once had a patient who worked as a flight attendant, I remember that I asked her if it wasn't scary flying on an airplane all the time but you know what she said?'

'No,' Bunta replied.

'She told me that it was okay if you just imagined it was a big bus,' Kumiko said, 'she said it helped if you stayed away from the windows so you wouldn't see that there was nothing underneath you.'

'Is that so?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Kumiko replied then, lowering her tone of voice, she said, 'if you get nervous, I guess you can use the same trick,' she then added, 'but I don't think you'll need to, after all, you're a racer, I doubt you'll be scared of a silly little plane.'

Zipping the bag closed, she smiled at him and, said:

'Am I right?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'of course you are.'

He then pulled her into a hug and they stayed like that until they heard Yuuichi's voice coming from downstairs. He was there to drive Bunta to Haneda Airport and Bunta knew that he wouldn't get another chance to say it so, pulling her away from him enough so that he could look down at her face, he said:

'I should be back home for Valentine.'

'That's good,' she said.

'I would like to do something special,' he said, 'you don't have anything against that, do you?'

'No,' Kumiko replied.

'Good,' Bunta said then, lowering his head, he kissed her and said, 'I love you.'

'I love you too,' she replied.

With that, the two of them went downstairs where they found Yuuichi, his wife Fuka and Eikichi engaged into a conversation about some new law which the Diet had just passed. Fuka looked oddly happy to see Kumiko there but Bunta paid little attention to that.

'Are you ready?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'so,' he added looking at his uncle, 'you'll be okay?'

'Of course,' Eikichi replied, 'I'll have these two lovely ladies looking after me,' he added, 'it's always better than looking at your ugly face.'

'Ha ha,' Bunta laughed humourlessly, 'very funny.'

'Come on you rascal,' Eikichi said, 'off you go and make me proud.'

'Don't I always?' Bunta replied with half-feigned arrogance.

Yuuichi, Fuka and even Kumiko laughed at that and, a few minutes later, Bunta followed his best friend out of the house. He walked past his beloved 2000GT and stopped to pat its hood then, he made his way to the passenger side of the Mazda Capella.

'Don't you want to drive?' Yuuichi asked.

'No,' Bunta replied.

'Okay,' Yuuichi said.

He then started the engine and soon enough they were on the motorway to Haneda. Bunta found that his best friend was strangely quiet during the entire trip but, instead of complaining, he just looked through the window, enjoying the fact that, for once, he could just relax and watch the scenery.

'Bunta,' he heard Yuuichi say.

'Yes?' Bunta asked without looking at him.

'If I tell you something, will you listen to me?' he asked. His unusually serious tone of voice made Bunta look at him and what he saw made Bunta worried enough to frown. He nodded and then Yuuichi continued, 'I think Fuka is not happy with me anymore.'

'What?' Bunta exclaimed, 'Yuuichi…'

'We've been married for nearly a year,' he interrupted.

'I know,' Bunta said.

'Yet,' Yuuichi said miserably, 'we still haven't managed to get pregnant.'

'Yuuichi…'

'Fuka said she was going to talk to Kumiko-chan about this,' he explained, 'she reckons we should go to the doctor to see if there's something wrong with us.'

'Yuuichi…'

'What if there's something wrong with me?' Yuuichi asked sounding anguished.

'Yuuichi,' Bunta repeated, 'nothing's wrong with you guys,' he added resolutely, 'for all you know, it might just be bad luck. I don't know very well how these things work but I know that sometimes it take a while, you know?'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'but not a full year. I'm pretty sure something's wrong with me and, if that's the case…'

'Stop it…'

'What if Fuka asks for a divorce?'

'What are you talking about?' Bunta asked impatiently, 'Fuka won't…'

'How do you know?' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'if I can't have children she's got every reason to want a divorce and there's nothing I can do about it.'

'Okay,' Bunta accepted, 'what if it's the other way round?'

'What do you mean?' Yuuichi asked.

'What if it's her the one who can't have children?' Bunta asked, 'why do you always assume it's you who can't do something? You're always doing it and it's annoying.'

'Bunta…'

'I'm just saying that before you jump into conclusions, you should think of all the possibilities,' Bunta said.

'I know,' Yuuichi said.

'So,' Bunta insisted, 'what if it's her the one who has a problem? Would you divorce her?'

'Of course not!' Yuuichi exclaimed.

'Then I think you have your answer,' Bunta sentenced.

'What…'

'I'll bet you anything Fuka feels the same way you do about the whole thing,' Bunta said, 'and, if I were you, I'd tell her straight away that you'll stand by her no matter what.'

'Bunta…'

'And if you mention something as stupid as getting a divorce again, I'll punch you,' Bunta threatened.

'Bunta…'

'Now,' Bunta interrupted him, 'do please pay attention to the road or I'll want to drive,' he added and, right then, Yuuichi realised that he had his car right in the middle of the line which separated two of the three lanes the motorway had.

'Oops,' Yuuichi said with a sheepish smile.

Bunta observed his best friend and felt relieved he seemed to be more or less back to his usual self. He didn't want to say out loud but he thought it would be terribly unfair if a couple as solid as the one formed by Yuuichi and Fuka were deprived of the chance of being parents for he really couldn't think of any people who were better suited for the job than those two.

Half an hour later, Bunta got out of Yuuichi's Capella and, grabbing his bag, he said:

'Thanks for the ride.'

'No problem,' Yuuichi said, 'we'll watch the rally on TV so go and do your thing, okay?'

'I will. Don't worry,' Bunta assured him, 'about _anything_, got it?'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'thanks for earlier.'

'Shut up,' Bunta said getting feeling suddenly self-conscious. Yuuichi saluted him placing two fingers on his temple and then, drove off leaving him standing there. He wasted a couple of seconds watching the back of the Mazda then, nodding once to himself, he made his way into the terminal.

'Good morning,' he said to the lady at the check in, 'I'm flying to Tokachi-Obihiro.'

'Are you your own?' the lady asked.

'No, he's not,' he heard a familiar sounding voice say.

'Shin,' he said, 'you're late,' he then complained.

'Sorry,' his co-pilot said, 'that stupid taxi driver,' Bunta laughed at that and, talking to the lady, he said:

'It's the two of us.'

'Do you prefer window or aisle?' she then asked.

'Aisle,' Bunta replied firmly.

'Are you sure?' Shin asked, 'everyone prefers the window seat,' he explained, 'unless…'

'What?' Bunta asked.

'You aren't afraid of planes, are you?' Shin asked him with only a hint of amusement in his voice.

'Why would I?' Bunta asked sounding all haughty, 'it's just a big bus, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Shin accepted, 'I guess that's what it is, a very big bus,' he said then, looking at the check in lady's name tag, he said, 'what do you think, Atsuko-chan?'

The lady didn't answer, instead, she smiled at Shin and, for the first time, Bunta realised that the guy was actually flirting with her. He shook his head and waited till the lady filled in his boarding pass, noticing how she took special care when filling Shin's and, what was worse, she slipped in a piece of paper with what looked like a phone number written on it.

'You're unbelievable,' Bunta complained when they were walking towards the gate.

'Why?' Shin asked.

'What you did back there,' Bunta replied.

'Hey,' Shin said, 'I'm single and for all I know, so is she.'

'Are you going to call her?' he asked him.

'Maybe,' Shin replied shrugging his broad shoulders.

Bunta laughed at that. The two of them talked a lot during the time while they waited for the plane and during the actual flight and, in the end, Bunta didn't even have the time to think about the fact that they were several thousand feet up in the air.

'Who's picking us up?' Shin asked him when they landed.

'Hide-san said he'd send someone,' Bunta replied.

'I guess we'll go straight to Grand Vrio,' Shin said.

'Grand Vrio?' Bunta asked him.

'It's the hotel where the organisation has their headquarters,' Shin explained, 'I heard wonders about the Tokachi Makubetsu Onsen,' he said, 'I hope we'll have some free time to dip in one of the hot baths there.'

'Me too,' Bunta agreed.

As they stepped onto the Arrivals, they saw Akira, one of the team's mechanics, there with a sign with their names on it. Bunta felt rather odd receiving what he considered a VIP treatment and, yet again, he wished Hide-san had allowed him to just travel with the team.

'Did you have a nice flight?' Akira asked them.

'Nice enough,' Shin replied.

'Yeah, not bad,' Bunta agreed.

'Good,' the mechanic said, 'now, we should get going or we'll be late for the pre-race meeting.'

About forty minutes later, Bunta was sitting in a huge room with several people belonging to different teams. He learned during the trip that there would be something close to twenty five different cars and as many teams. He had asked Akira if he knew who was the best driver out of all of them.

'Murakami Ryu,' the young mechanic had answered.

Bunta found himself looking around the many faces trying to figure out if one of them was this Murakami guy when Shin noticed it. He then pointed at a guy who was sitting across the room talking to a ridiculously tanned guy who sported an earring and bleached hair, the two of them were wearing a dark blue jacket with a Subaru logo embroidered on the back.

'That's him,' Shin said, 'and that's his co-pilot, his name is Nishimoto Tatsuya.'

'What happened to his hair?' Bunta asked glancing at Nishimoto.

'I guess he thinks it's cool,' Shin replied shrugging his shoulders.

'So,' Bunta said looking serious, 'they drive a Subaru,' he added, 'is it a Leone?'

'I think so,' Shin said. He was about to add something else when the arrival of three JFA officials prevented him from replying. Bunta saw Shin producing a small notepad and, soon, he started writing down everything which was said during the meeting.

'Hey,' Bunta heard someone say. He turned round and saw Murakami and his co-pilot walking towards them. He looked around himself to see if Murakami was talking to someone else when the other racer said, 'excuse me if I'm wrong but, you're Fujiwara Bunta, aren't you?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'how do you know that?'

'I'm friends with Yamazaki Tetsu,' he explained, 'we raced together in the Fuji Freshman Series.'

'Oh,' Bunta said, 'he was a really good racer, it's too bad he retired.'

'I agree,' Murakami said, 'I tried talking him out of retiring but…at any rate, he called me a few days ago to tell me that I should keep an eye on you.'

'Really?' Bunta asked.

'Yeah,' he replied, 'Tetsu was very impressed with your driving and that's not an easy feat, you know?'

Bunta didn't say anything to that.

'I'm looking forward to seeing how you fare,' Murakami said then, slapping his forehead, he said, 'excuse my manners, I forgot to introduce myself…'

'Don't worry,' Shin interrupted him, 'we already know who you are.'

'I guess you do,' Nishimoto said, 'after all, _we_ are famous.'

Both Bunta and Shin raised their eyebrows and before either could say anything, Murakami shook his head and, with a more or less genuine smile on his handsome face, he said:

'Please forgive him.'

'Nothing to forgive,' Bunta finally said, 'after all, he is right: you are famous. We'll just have to do our best to become famous too.'

Murakami nodded to that and then one of the members of his team called him over. He walked away with Nishimoto following him closely. Bunta observed the pair and then he heard Shin say:

'It'll be so much fun.'

'What will?' Bunta asked.

'Beating those two,' Shin replied.

Bunta looked at his co-pilot and was astonished to see that, beneath the friendly demeanour, the guy had a very fierce competitive streak and, once again, he thought that Kogashiwa was right: he was very lucky.

While he followed Shin out of the room, he remembered the first time they had gone up Mt Akina. Bunta had been most impressed by the fact that nine times out of ten, Shin would tell him to tackle the corners in the same exact way he would and the one time he didn't, his way turned out to be better than anything he had come up with before.

That and the fact that their Celica was a jewel of a car made Bunta feel pretty confident that if not a win, they could at the very least do very well in the rallies the would take part on this year. It was with this very positive outlook that he joined his team at the parc ferme which had been established just outside the hotel.

'So,' Hide-san said once the team was gathered around the car, 'I know it's sudden but as you've heard, we have the first special stage in about an hour. It's just one point two kilometre long but it'll determine the starting order for the next stage.'

'Okay,' Bunta said.

'Remember that this isn't about speed,' Hide-san said, 'you need to make sure you keep within the legal speed limits. If you make it to the arrival too soon we'll get a ten second penalty towards our total time.'

'Hey, I know that,' Bunta complained.

'Just checking,' Hide-san said with a smile, 'to be honest with you, I'm surprised you've adapted yourself so well and so quickly to the rally regulations, considering how, up until then, you've been racing only on circuits.'

'Hide-san,' Shin said, 'you forget that this guy's training field were the mountain passes in Gunma.'

'That's true,' Hide-san said, 'but something tells me that the speed limits weren't high up on your list of things to watch out for.'

'Eh…'

'Don't worry,' Shin assured him, 'I'll be there to remind him.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said with a sarcastic smirk.

About an hour later, the officials opened the parc ferme and Bunta and Shin were finally allowed to get in the car. He checked that his helmet and seatbelt were properly fastened while Shin checked that he had the right page of the race itinerary on his notepad. Bunta then tested the radio:

'Bunta here, do you copy?'

'Loud and clear,' Hide-san said.

'Good, over,' Bunta said, he then checked the chronometer Shin had had installed in the car and, once he was happy with everything, he turned the engine on and inserted the first gear. Once again, he felt in awe with the super smooth way in which the Celica worked.

'Let's go,' he muttered.

They incorporated themselves onto the queue which was slowly forming and, from there, they saw the electric blue Leone which belonged to Murakami's team. Bunta knew that that would be the car to look for but then, he realised that he wouldn't really be racing against him.

No, he thought, that was another thing which would be different: in a rally there were very few moments in which two cars would be involved in a direct confrontation with each other. In fact, each driver raced on his own and the only rivals they had were time and the road itself.

'You're alright?' he heard Shin ask.

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'Don't worry,' Shin said, 'we've trained hard for this and, to be honest, I've never seen anyone with the level of control you have while driving on snow. Not even Eneberg did and that guy was born in northern Finland where they only have snow-free roads a couple of months a year.'

'Yeah well,' Bunta said.

'We'll be fine,' Shin insisted.

'Of course we will,' Bunta smiled.

Shin nodded once and, soon they found themselves at the starting line of the first special stage. Only then Bunta realised that it was happening: at long last, he was starting his career in rallying. He felt excited and waited with trepidation till one of the officials signalled for them to move forward so that they would be the next in the line.

'Ready,' they heard official say, 'steady….GO!'

Bunta pressed the accelerator and soon they were covering the short distance which separated them from the arrival. The sector of the road used for this first special stage wasn't particularly challenging but, Bunta knew that what mattered now wasn't the difficulty of the road but, rather, that they made it to the end of the sector within the pre-established time.

'Easy there,' Shin said and Bunta lifted his foot from the pedal just a fraction, 'better,' the co-pilot said.

Exactly one minute and seven seconds later, the Celica crossed the finish line. They were about to drive back to the base using the alternative road provided by the organisation when they heard Hide-san's voice over the radio:

'Good job guys!'

'How was the time?' Shin asked him.

'Spot on,' Hide-san replied sounding happy.

'Really?' Bunta asked, 'I thought we were going too slow…'

Shin laughed at that, 'don't worry,' he said, 'soon, you'll see that slow is good.'

Once at the parc ferme, Bunta was forced to leave the Celica there since the organisation wouldn't allow the team do do any work on the car between then and the start of the second race day. He followed Hide-san, Shin and the rest of the team back to the Grand Vrio hotel where, with a bit of luck, they would have some time to use the hot baths the resort was so famous for.

'Ah…' Shin said stepping into the big tub, 'that's what I wanted to come here for.'

'And I thought we were here for a race,' Bunta said with a smirk.

'Race?' Shin joked lazily, 'what race?'

Dipping in the tub, feeling the usual thermal shock, Bunta decided that he too, for once, would forget about racing. He placed a small, wet square towel on top of his head and, leaning his back against the tiled wall, he closed his eyes and let out a long breath.

'Nice…'

'Isn't it?' Shin said.

'Don't fall asleep you two,' Hide-san warned them from across the tub.

Bunta and Shin just smiled.

The next day they had a very early start and Bunta was back in the car on their way to Rikubetsu for the start of the second special stage. Once again it wasn't a long one but Bunta knew that they would have to cover ten special stages that day and that some of them were nearly thirty kilometres long so, for this reason, he thought he'd just try and keep up the good work from the previous day.

'Murakami's first,' Shin commented while they drove to the start.

'I know,' Bunta replied, 'I saw it posted on the official board.'

'But we're second,' Shin said.

'I know that too,' Bunta said, 'did you think I couldn't read?' he asked only half-joking.

'Not really,' Shin replied, 'it's just that I don't think you realise what we're getting ourselves into.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked him.

'Think about it,' Shin said, 'some of the other drivers have been rallying for years. You're at your first race ever. Just try and imagine how you'd feel if a rookie did better than you.'

'Oh…'

'Yes,' Shin said, 'like I said, it's going to be fun.'

'Just make sure you do your thing and we'll be fine,' Bunta countered. He saw the way Shin smiled at that and, once again, he was shocked to see how fast his usually friendly co-pilot went into battle mode. Not that he would ever complain about it, it was great to see that determined look on Shin's face and it only helped him fuel up his own resolution to do well.

They got to Rikubetsu shortly after and once there they saw Murakami's Leone getting ready for their start. Bunta hurried his Celica towards the Subaru so that he wouldn't miss the moment when the official signalled Murakami to go. He saw the sheer mastery with which his rival took off and, despite the fact that more snow had settled during the night, the Leone didn't even skid.

Soon, he was on the spot which Murakami had just vacated and, a few moments later, the same official prompted them to start. Bunta had to repress the instinct which wanted him to chase Murakami and once again felt the difference between circuit and rally racing.

'At the junction sweep right,' he heard Shin say.

Bunta complied.

'Easy on the brake at point three,' Shin added.

Bunta didn't even bother replying to that, instead, he just did exactly what Shin suggested each time and as he expected, he saw that driving following his co-pilot's instructions made things so much easier. He didn't even have to think about what he did which made it possible for him to become one with the Celica.

Two minutes and seventeen seconds later, the crossed the finish line passing in front of Murakami's Leone which, for some reason, was still parked there. Bunta found it odd that the guy hadn't started making his way to Kunneywa where they would have the third stage, a thirty kilometre long one. Then, he saw the driver climbing out of the Subaru and walking towards them.

'What is he doing?' Shin asked.

'No idea,' Bunta replied.

Just in case, he decided to slow down till the Celica came to a full stop and then, he rolled the window down and waited till Murakami got there. The Subaru driver crouched down to level with Bunta's head and, with a genuinely impressed smile, he said:

'Now I know the reason why Tetsu was so impressed with you.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked cautiously.

'These two stages were just a warm up,' Murakami said, 'let me see how you fare in Kunneywa.'

With that, he just got back up and, before any JFA officials could tell him off for speaking to an opponent, he made his way back to his Subaru. He then climbed on it and took off leaving Bunta there unsure as to what the whole exchange had really been about.

'Forget it,' Shin said, 'he's just scared.'

Bunta looked at his co-pilot and, slowly, he felt that his lips were curving upwards. Smiling, he inserted the first gear and, following the indications, he started driving towards their next stage and, just then, he decided that he would do his very best to give Murakami a real reason to be afraid.

_To be continued…_


	72. Chapter Seventy One

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy One_

After covering the seventh special stage of the day, Bunta noticed two things. One made his job easier and it was to think of each sector as if it were a tofu delivery, only that instead of running the well known Akina pass, he was driving on roads he'd never even seen before. This helped him get rid of the weird and lonely feeling that racing on his own had made him feel from the very start of the race. For the other, he needed confirmation so, while he and his co-pilot were driving towards the refuelling area, he said:

'Shin, can I ask you something?'

'Sure,' he replied.

'Is it me or you kind of not look at the road just before you tell me what to do?'

Shin chuckled softly and, from the corner of his eye, Bunta saw him nodding once.

'It's my secret trick,' he then explained.

'Secret trick?' Bunta asked feeling genuinely curious.

'Yes,' Shin replied, 'the way read the road is simple, I take a quick glance at the actual thing, then I check the map to see where the next corner is going and I trace the line in my mind. I then tell you what to do in the very corner we're in while I'm already figuring out what to do in the next one.'

'What about the speed?'

'That's just a feeling,' Shin said, 'I can tell if we're going too fast just by how I feel the car's going. You could easily do the same thing if you closed your eyes for a bit while you drive.'

'If I do what?' an astonished Bunta asked.

'Try it now,' Shin said, 'we're not racing now so, why don't you try taking your eyes off the road for a bit, don't worry I'll carry on telling you how to tackle the corners.'

'Okay,' Bunta accepted then, closing his eyes, he started driving concentrating on the sensations the Celica transmitted to him and following Shin's precise instructions. He then realised that what Shin said was true: the car was basically "talking" to him all the time, he just needed to pay attention and the Celica would tell him what to do.

'That was good,' Shin praised him when they stopped at the refuelling station, 'you and the car clearly understand each other, just as I thought you would.'

'Shin,' Bunta said, 'there's one thing I don't get,' he said.

'What is it?' Shin asked him.

'Why aren't you a driver?' Bunta asked hoping he wasn't being too rude, 'I mean, with your skills, I'm sure you could be a monstrous racer.'

'No,' Shin said, 'I lack the concentration you have,' seeing Bunta's confused expression made him elaborate, 'if I drive for too long I tend to get distracted easily, I find that the only way I can fully express my…talent, it's if I let someone else do the driving while I keep an eye on the itinerary.'

'I see,' Bunta said.

'To be honest,' Shin continued, 'I think that soon you might not even need me.'

'Please don't joke like that,' Bunta said.

'I'm not joking,' Shin replied, 'you might not even know it yourself but you're already as good as I am reading the road, the only problem you have is that you use up a lot of your energy trying to keep under the speed limit.'

'What do you mean?'

'I think it's normal,' Shin explained, 'you've been trying to get faster all the time, it must be very hard for you to keep your foot off the accelerator. I honestly think that, once you get used to this new pace, you'll start getting better and better at reading the road.'

'Don't worry,' Bunta said, 'even if that happens, I still need a co-pilot.'

'Yes,' Shin said, 'the regulations say that…'

'Screw the regulations,' Bunta said, 'I'm actually enjoying having someone to talk to during the races, it'd really be too lonely if I had to do all of this by myself.'

'That's true,' Shin said with a smile.

'So, partner,' Bunta asked, 'where are we off to now?'

'Back to Kunneywa,' Shin replied, 'we need to cover that sector again and then go to Sipirkakim for the last special stage of the day. After that we'll have a couple of runs on Obihiro and then re-group at the parc ferme.'

'Let's do it,' Bunta said.

After they finished refuelling the Celica, he took them to Kunneywa which they would have to do in reverse so that they could then go to Sipirkakim. Bunta had already driven on that sector before so, this time, he decided to apply what Shin had told him and, every now and then, he would take his eyes off the road so that he could "listen" to the car.

He knew that he was doing well because the Celica reacted to his touch in the same exact way as he predicted and that was yet another thing which he liked about rallying: it gave him a complete sense of freedom he'd never really had on circuit racing.

In addition to that, he could drift as much as he wanted, as long as he kept within the speed limit imposed by both traffic regulations and the instructions that Shin kept giving him. It was a great feeling and Bunta thought that he was really lucky he was actually getting paid to do it.

'Be careful there,' he heard Shin say.

Bunta looked at the road and he saw that he was veering too much towards the wall formed by the snow. He steered inwards and brought the car back to the middle of the road. Had they gone any faster and they would have probably crashed.

'Sorry,' Bunta said.

'No worries,' Shin said, 'you're already getting the hang of it.'

By the end of the day Bunta wasn't surprised to see his team's name on the top of the classification and he was pleased to notice that everyone was looking at him as though as they were regretting not having paid more attention to him at the beginning of the race.

'Well done,' Hide-san said.

'Thanks,' Shin said while Bunta just nodded trying not to look too smug.

'Now,' the team manager said, 'while the car is at the Technical Zone getting checked, you two should go back to the hotel and get as much rest as you can. Tomorrow will be another hard day and they're predicting a blizzard.'

'Oh great,' Bunta said happily.

'Great?' Hide-san asked, 'did you understand what I said?'

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'a blizzard; which means we won't see a thing in front of us, right?'

'Precisely,' Hide-san replied.

'Like I said,' Bunta said, 'it's great news.'

Hide-san looked at Bunta and then at Shin who just smiled in a very cryptic way. The co-pilot just nodded and, placing his arm around his partner's shoulders, he looked at Bunta and said:

'It'll be fun.'

'Heaps of it,' Bunta confirmed.

With that and leaving an utterly bewildered Hide-san behind, they made their way to the hotel to enjoy another long bath before they would eat something and get the good night sleep both of them needed. While up in his room and before he went to bed Bunta decided to call home to see how things were there:

'Fujiwara Tofu Shop,' he heard Eikichi's voice say.

'Hey, it's me,' Bunta said, 'how are things?'

'Oh, we're okay,' Eikichi said, 'I saw a bit of your rally,' he added.

'And?' Bunta asked him trying not to sound too eager.

'Not bad,' Eikichi said, 'that co-pilot of yours must be doing a good job.'

'He is,' Bunta said, 'he's brilliant.'

'Really?' Eikichi asked sounding surprised.

'Yep,' Bunta said, 'he's teaching me lots of stuff in a way which I think even you would approve.'

'Is that so?' Eikichi asked.

'Yep,' Bunta replied, 'are you on your own now?'

'Nope,' he replied, 'Kumi-chan's with me, she's been keeping me company while you were gone. Do you want to speak to her?'

'Yes please,' Bunta said.

Eikichi passed the phone to Kumiko.

'Hi,' she said, 'how are you?'

'Not bad,' Bunta said then, he lowered his voice a little and said, 'missing you.'

'Liar,' Kumiko said, 'you're having so much fun I doubt you're even thinking of us but that's okay, after all, it happens the same to me when I'm at the hospital.'

'That's nice to know,' Bunta said a little too grumpily.

'I'm just being honest,' Kumiko said.

'I know,' Bunta said, 'don't worry I was just kidding. Besides we're both very lucky that we do what we want for a living, right?'

'Yes,' Kumiko said then, she added, 'you're taking care of yourself there, right?'

'Of course,' he replied.

'Good,' she said, 'you better hang up now though, you should get plenty of rest and make sure you cover yourself well, Hokkaido is freezing cold at this time of the year.'

'It _is_ freezing,' he confirmed, 'but it's warm enough in the car so, don't worry about it.'

'If you say so,' Kumiko said not sounding too convinced.

'Take care and I'll see you soon, okay?' he said.

'Yes,' she replied then, just as Bunta was about to hang up, he heard her say, 'Bunta…'

'What is it?' he asked her.

'Er…' she hesitated, 'I wonder if I could ask you a huge favour.'

'Of course you can,' he replied laughing softly.

'You know, while I lived in Hokkaido, I used to get white chocolate in a shop called Rokkaitei, I wonder…if…'

'How many do you want?' he asked her.

'Eh?' she asked.

'How many bars?' he asked, 'four? Five?'

'That many?' she asked sounding scandalised.

'Five it is then,' Bunta decided on his own.

'But…'

'Good night Kumiko,' he said smiling and, once again feeling like a very accomplished boyfriend, he placed the receiver back on its cradle. Then, he called the reception and asked where the nearest Rokkatei shop was. It turned out that the shop at the hotel had some Rokkatei branded products and Bunta was very pleased to learn that they did have some of the white chocolate bars Kumiko seemed to like so much.

'The shop closes at ten, sir,' the lady at the reception informed him.

Bunta looked at the clock in his room and saw he had less than ten minutes.

'Thanks,' he said and, hanging up, he took his wallet and his room key.

He had just got out of the shop when he saw a couple of guys from the Subaru team Murakami drove for stepping onto the foyer. He noticed that they looked at him and one of them was smirking in a very unfriendly way. Brushing it off, Bunta waited for the elevator to come down and decided to forget about it.

Packing the parcel he'd just got carefully inside his bag so that the bars would not break, Bunta took his clothes off and got in bed smiling while thinking that by giving the chocolate to Kumiko this Valentine, he'd break a long standing tradition.

The next day, Bunta didn't even need the wake up call and at four o'clock in the morning he was already showered and dressed. He looked through one of his room's windows and, even though it was still pitch black, he saw that the weather was every bit as bad as the weather predictions had promised. A blizzard was in full force and he couldn't even see the parc ferme which was just down below.

'Great day outside, isn't it?' Shin asked him when, half an hour later, the two met at the breakfast table.

'A joy,' Bunta replied with a smirk.

'Don't worry,' Shin said, 'I've had worse.'

'Really?' Bunta asked him.

'Yep,' Shin replied, 'sandstorms are a lot worse than blizzards.'

'Sandstorms?' Bunta asked.

'He was in last year's Safari Rally,' Hide-san explained while he joined them at the table, 'did rather well, considering they used a Lancer GSR.'

'You raced with a Mitsubishi?' Bunta asked him sounding positively surprised.

'Yeah,' Shin replied and, looking down at his plate in shame, he added, 'I was young and impressionable.'

That made everyone laugh out loud and that's how Murakami and his team found them when they too came downstairs for their breakfast. Once again he noticed the smug looks on the faces of two of the mechanics but, choosing to ignore them, Bunta tried to concentrate on his rice.

'Good morning,' Murakami said passing by the table.

'Hey,' Bunta replied.

'Yesterday you did great,' Murakami said.

This made Bunta stop pretending he was busy eating and, placing his chopsticks next to the bowl of rice, he looked at him and waited to see if the guy added anything to it. He didn't so Bunta nodded once and said:

'Thanks.'

'Like I said,' Murakami continued, 'yesterday was just a warm up, the real race begins today.'

'We could say the same thing,' Shin commented as casually as he could.

'Yes,' Bunta agreed, 'we now know the area as well as you do.'

'I wouldn't be so sure,' Nishimoto said with what looked like a knowing smile. That made Bunta fairly mad but, instead of losing his cool, Bunta returned the smile and went back to eating his breakfast hoping that Shin would follow suit and that the Subaru drivers would just leave them alone.

Thankfully, Murakami seemed to be quite reasonable and making a gesture with his head, made Nishimoto follow him to an empty table placed as far away as possible from the one occupied by Bunta and the rest of his team. Shin let out a not-so-kind remark about Nishimoto and went on to comment on how some people should learn how to lose gracefully.

At five minutes to five and with the sky still as dark as it had been when Bunta had got up, the organisation opened the parc exposé so that the few crazy people who were there as public could take a look at the cars and even speak to the drivers.

'Excuse me,' a youngster said talking to Bunta, 'can I have your autograph?'

Bunta looked around himself half-expecting to find someone famous then, remembering that it was probably _his _autograph the kid wanted, he offered him his best grin and proceeded to sign a piece of paper. It was his very first autograph as a rally driver and it made him feel rather weird.

'You'll get used to this,' Shin promised.

'I doubt it,' Bunta countered.

Thankfully and because of the severe weather conditions, the organisation closed the parc exposé only five minutes after opening it and, after that, they asked all the teams to gather for the start of the first stage of the day which, after a quick refuelling, would take them all the way to Sinotcaki, some thirty kilometres away.

Bunta and Shin were standing next to the Celica when Hide-san came towards them bearing the snow storm the best way he could. Bunta had to give it to the man: he was old but looked as agile as Eikichi did before his hear attack.

'We'll meet back here for the re-group,' Hide-san said, 'till then you're on your own so bear with the conditions the best way you can.'

'Okay,' Bunta replied.

'I don't need to tell you what I need you to do, do I?' the team manager asked.

'Nope,' Bunta replied.

'That's what I wanted to hear,' Hide-san said.

At long last, Bunta climbed into the car after drying the soles of his shoes carefully. He then removed the parka and, instead of handing it to Akira who was waiting for it, he decided to throw it at the back of the car in the empty space where the backseat was supposed to be.

'You want to keep it with you?' Akira asked him.

'Yes,' Bunta replied, 'unless you want us to freeze to death during the refuelling.'

'No, no,' Akira said, he then closed the door and took a couple of steps away from the car.

Bunta waited till Shin finished sorting out the myriad of papers he had stuck on his notepad and, only then, he started the engine. For some reason he thought that something sounded a little off but, shaking his head, he thought it was the strong wind which was still blowing outside.

'Everything alright?' Shin asked him.

'I think so,' Bunta replied.

'Let's go then,' Shin said and, entering the first gear, Bunta made the car roll forward. Since they had come first in the previous day's results, they had also earned the right to start the twelfth special stage in first place so, making sure no one else was coming their way, he drove the Celica all the way to the starting line.

They had covered all six and a half kilometres of the Sinotcaki sector and had already travelled over half of the sixty kilometres which separated the twelfth and the thirteenth stage when Bunta noticed that the gauge which measured the water temperature was a little higher than it should have been.

'What's wrong?' Shin asked him seeing his driver tap the dial.

'I'm not sure,' Bunta replied.

He kept an eye on it for the next ten kilometres and then he saw that the needle kept going up which was beyond odd, considering how freaking cold it was outside. Not liking it one bit, he checked the car's clock and glancing at Shin, he asked:

'When do we need to be at the checkpoint?'

'In ten minutes and forty seconds from now,' Shin replied then, seeing what Bunta did next, he grew alarmed and said, 'what are you doing?'

'I'm stopping the car,' Bunta replied stating the obvious.

'I can see that,' a panicked Shin said, 'can I know why?'

'I want to check something,' he just said.

Pulling over, he stopped the car by the side of the road. He then opened the hood from inside the car before he climbed out himself. Shin had the good sense of doing the same and, in the middle of the snow storm, the two men walked in front of the car where Bunta threw his parka on the ground.

'What are…

Shin didn't finish his question for Bunta set himself underneath the Celica and, after a few moments, the co-pilot heard him shout:

'I knew it!'

'What's wrong?' Shin asked him speaking loudly enough to be heard over the wind.

'Get me the toolbox,' Bunta shouted.

'Wha…' Shin started then, knowing better than to argue, he did what he was told. Positioning it next to Bunta's body, he asked, 'what's wrong?'

'Give me a minute,' Bunta shouted back and for the following few minutes, Shin saw him working furiously fast while he obviously fixed something under the car. Shin was about to open his mouth to speak when, at long last, Bunta came out from under the car with his hair soaking wet and his face smeared with grease.

'What's wrong?' Shin asked him giving him a hand to get up from the ground.

'Look at that,' Bunta replied showing him one of the hoses which connected the radiator to the engine's head. Shin had to strain his perfect vision to see what Bunta was pointing at but, soon, he saw a small but deep nick which severed half of the tube's diameter.

'What the…'

'Now I get it,' Bunta said with a lower tone of voice then, raising his voice, he said, 'I know who did this!'

'Who?' Shin asked.

Before the needle-like cold he felt on the back of his head could freeze him to death, Bunta climbed back into the Celica and, taking one of the small towels they kept there for emergencies such as these, he started drying himself the best way he could while Shin busied himself collecting the tools back into their box. The co-pilot joined his team mate back in the Celica just as the electric blue Subaru passed them by.

'That's who did it,' Bunta said pointing at them.

'What?' Shin said, 'Bunta…'

'Last night,' Bunta explained, 'I saw a couple of their mechanics coming back into the hotel after the parc ferme had been closed. I'm pretty sure that's when they tampered with our car.'

'What?' Shin said, 'that's…'

'Illegal,' Bunta finished for him, 'it would get them disqualified.'

'Bunta, that's a very serious accusation,' Shin reasoned, 'and we don't have any evidence to prove it.'

'Yet,' Bunta countered, 'but I'm sure it was them. You saw the way Nishimoto smirked at us this morning.'

'Bunta…'

'Look,' he said, 'I'm not crazy, okay? I know something's fishy and I know it was them who did it.'

'Okay,' Shin said, 'I agree with you that someone has been messing with our car but we have some security surveying the cars while they're at the parc ferme, they would have seen it if two Subaru mechanics went anywhere near it.'

'Do you know how easy it'd be to bribe them?' Bunta countered.

'Why would the do that?' Shin asked.

'You said it yourself,' Bunta replied, 'we're doing well. Too well and it's obvious that some people are not going to be too happy if a rookie team beats their more experienced drivers.'

'Okay,' Shin said, 'but what can we do? We still have to finish the last special stage before we can re-group.'

'Don't worry about it,' Bunta said, 'I have a rough idea about how to deal with this.'

'You are scary sometimes,' Shin said with a smirk, 'did you know that?'

Ignoring him, Bunta turned the engine back on and, seeing that everything was back to normal, they soon were on their way to their next stage. Bunta knew that this time they had to push it a little so, forgetting about the traffic laws, he pressed the accelerator hoping that the blizzard would offer them the cover they needed so that no one would see them speeding.

'Slow down,' Shin said a few minutes later, 'we're approaching a checkpoint,' he explained.

'Okay,' Bunta said.

By the time they got to the start of the thirteenth stage, Bunta knew that they had a slight delay and, once again, he decided to focus on his driving so that they could try and catch up. He would think about what had happened later.

At around ten thirty in the morning, they finally got back to Kita Aikoku where Hide-san waited for them with the rest of their team for the first servicing of the day and since Hide-san had been informed about the incident by radio, he didn't waste any time and said:

'Let's see it.'

'We're okay,' Bunta said sarcastically.

'Yes,' Shin agreed, 'don't worry so much about us…'

'Shut up,' Hide-san said, the old man obviously failed to see the humour in the situation and, ordering both drivers out of the Celica, he had the entire team of mechanics checking every centimetre of it just to make sure nothing else has been tampered with.

'Did you keep it?' Hide-san asked.

'Of course,' Bunta said and, out of the toolbox, he produced the severed hose then, before he gave it to him, he asked, 'before you show it to the officials, there is something I'd like to ask you.'

'What is it?' Hide-san asked.

'Could we forget about what's happened?' Bunta asked and before they could bite his head off, he said, 'I have a plan for the next race so, if we could just pretend that nothing happened, it would be much better.'

'But Bunta…' Shin started.

'Trust me,' Bunta said, 'if what I have in mind works, we'll catch them red-handed.'

Hide-san seemed to think about it for a short while then, looking at Bunta, he nodded and said:

'We'll do it your way, after all, it's not like they've cost us so much time and I take you'll do your best to get us back on track in the last three stages, correct?'

'Yes, sir,' Bunta said.

'Good,' Hide-san said, 'then, while we finish here take a quick break.'

Bunta and Shin had just found a spot guarded from the wind when they saw Murakami walking towards them without Nishimoto who was nowhere to be seen. Bunta felt his fists tighten and out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Shin didn't look much calmer.

'Hey,' the Subaru driver said, 'I saw you stopped by the road, what happened?'

'Nothing,' Bunta replied before Shin could even open his mouth, 'just fancied a break.'

'A what?' Murakami asked surprised. Even Shin was flabbergasted and that made Bunta smile. Unfortunately, that made Murakami think that they were making fun of him and, with a flat tone, he said, 'you might find this weird but I was actually worried.'

'You're right,' Bunta said, 'I find it weird.'

Murakami glared at him and before he turned round to leave, he said:

'You know, Tetsu said you were a decent enough guy, this is your first rally and maybe you're nervous so, I think I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.'

'How magnanimous,' Bunta muttered loud enough for Murakami to hear him only that this time, Murakami didn't even bother to reply and, shaking his head, he made his way back to his Subaru. Bunta observed him and, for some reason, he started having trouble believing that this guy could in any way be involved in something as low as tampering with a rival's car.

'We should go,' Shin said.

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

Shaking off the weird sensation he'd got after his short exchange with Murakami, Bunta decided to, once again, focus his energies on the race and forget about the rest. He knew that if they wanted to make it to the end of the race within the first three positions he would have to come up with a small miracle.

_To be continued…_


	73. Chapter Seventy Two

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy Two_

The start of the SS17 which covered the almost eleven kilometre long Honbetsu sector was marked by the fact that it had finally stopped snowing and the sun was at long last timidly showing up through the thick clouds which still covered the sky.

Its weak rays managed to reflect onto the freshly settled snow on both the actual road and the top of the trees which were lined up on both sides of it. Bunta and Shin were too busy to notice the beauty of it while they reached the last checkpoint of the race.

'How long do we have?' Bunta asked his co-pilot.

'According to the itinerary we should make it there within less than seven minutes.'

'Alright,' Bunta said.

He then waited for the official to signal for them to go and, at that very moment, he pressed the accelerator hoping to clear the first right hander without losing too much time. He knew that after that there would be a long straight which would lead them to a series of sharp turns which, as he had seen during the first passage.

'Easy there on the left,' Shin said.

Bunta didn't even bother looking at the road, instead, he veered slightly towards the right and he immediately felt the car gaining a little bit of grip. He continued till they got to the second major straight of the passage. Once there, he asked:

'Time?'

'We're good,' Shin simply said.

Easing a bit on the accelerator, he entered the sharpest of the corners of the Honbetsu sector, a hairpin-like left-hander which went slightly downhill. The corner was extremely dangerous but Bunta had seen worse during his deliveries in Mt Akina. He simply balanced his footwork and, selecting the right gear, he managed to make the car drift till it faced the corner's exit.

'Slow down,' Shin said, 'we're almost there.'

Nodding, he let the car's own weight carry it downhill till he saw the following corner. He knew what Shin was about to say even before his co-pilot opened his mouth and, moving towards the left, he entered the corner using the inside of it.

'I feel so useless,' Shin commented sounding half-amused.

'Shut up,' Bunta said, 'I'm concentrating.'

Shin grinned and, checking the chronometer, he let out a chuckle: it read six minutes, fifty four seconds and forty seven milliseconds. The finish line for the special stage was just a few meters ahead. Provided they did well in the Obihiro short stage, they were very much set for an overall second place.

'I think we'll make it,' Shin informed him while they went back to the Kita Aikoku Service Area.

'First?' Bunta asked him.

'No,' Shin said, 'second.'

'Really?' Bunta asked and, his co-pilot's smile disappeared.

'Why are you sounding so disappointed?' Shin asked him.

'Isn't there a way to get ahead of that Murakami guy?' Bunta asked him instead.

'Well…'

'Is there?' Bunta insisted.

'I'm not sure,' Shin replied then, using the radio, he said, 'Hide-san, how much is our current gap?'

'Four point thirty five seconds,' the team manager informed them.

'Okay,' Shin said. He then spent a few moments checking his papers and, shaking his head, he said, 'we have a chance if Murakami messes up his final timing for more than four seconds and we nail ours. It's a one in a million thing, really.'

'What about the penalties?' Bunta asked.

'He got none, so far,' Shin replied.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'we better nail our time then.'

'Bunta,' Shin said, 'you really are going for the win, aren't you?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied, 'is there anything else to go for?'

Shin looked at him for a short while before he shook his helmeted head. Bunta didn't say anything else and he started trying to figure out a way to cover the short one point two kilometre long stage in the minute the organisation had established.

In reality, he hated having to rely on Murakami making a mistake but, with a bit of luck, something would happen which would make the Subaru lose four full seconds. Bunta was about to start thinking of some litany he could use to bring bad luck to Murakami when they heard Hide-san's excited voice over the radio.

'Oh wow, that's so good!'

'What's up?' Shin asked.

'You won't believe this,' Hide-san said and Bunta was about to say he didn't feel like playing mind-games when the team manager said, 'something's happened to Murakami's Leone.'

'Say that again?' Shin voiced the very question Bunta had in mind.

'I don't know what's wrong with it,' Hide-san said, 'but they have failed to show up at Kita Aikoku.'

Bunta decided to hurry up to see if they found the Subaru along the way and, just as they were approaching the city, they saw the Subaru there, crashed against a wall of snow with a huge branch on top of it. Bunta saw both Murakami and Nishimoto trying to get the thing off their car and something made him stop the Celica.

Shin was about to ask him what he was doing when he saw Bunta rolling the window down and, speaking the Subaru driver, the co-pilot heard him say:

'Do you need a hand?'

Murakami looked at Bunta as though as he had just seen an alien but recovering fast enough, he shook his head and pointing at the smashed windscreen, he said:

'It's over. Go and claim your victory.'

Bunta remained quiet for an instant, then he said:

'Just for the record, this is not the way I like winning a race.'

Without waiting for Murakami to reply, Bunta took off and rolled the window up while they made it to the Service Area so that they could complete the last stage of the rally and, as Murakami said, claim their win. Needless to say, Hide-san was over the moon with the result and even Shin was happy about it. The only one who wasn't in such high spirits was Bunta himself.

'Hey,' Shin said while they got ready to get their prize, 'think about this, if you're right about you-know-what, then this is just the kind of bad karma they brought upon themselves.'

'Still,' Bunta complained.

'Don't worry,' Shin said, 'we have another five rounds to go this season. I'm sure we'll be able to demonstrate that this victory wasn't only all about good luck.'

Bunta nodded and tried to convince himself that his co-pilot was right and that, thinking rationally, they would probably have won if they hadn't had to waste so much time changing the radiator's hose. All in all, it was a huge accomplishment winning his first rally ever and looking at the way his team's mechanics were smiling made him forget about everything which had happened during the weekend.

When the next day he and Shin landed back at Haneda, he was only too happy to see Yuuichi waiting for them. After the customary introductions, Shin politely declined Yuuichi's offer to take him back to the apartment he had in Tokyo, saying he'd get a taxi instead.

'Are you sure?' Yuuichi asked him, 'I don't mind the detour.'

'It's a very kind offer,' Shin said, 'but I kind of have a previous appointment.'

'Don't tell me,' Bunta started, 'did you call her?'

'Yeah,' Shin replied with a smug smile.

'Right,' Bunta said then, looking at his best friend, he said, 'we better go, we don't want to get in the way.'

Looking lost, Yuuichi decided that it would probably better to ignore the whole thing and walking out of the terminal, he made his way back to his beloved Mazda Capella. Shin then said his goodbyes and soon it was just he and Bunta left.

'I saw the race,' Yuuichi said once they were on their way to Shibukawa, 'that Murakami guy had terrible luck, having that branch falling just as he cleared that corner. It was a good thing no one got hurt…'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said, 'it's the first time you win a race and I don't see you bragging about it, what's wrong?'

'Nothing,' Bunta replied all-too-quickly then, noticing Yuuichi's sceptic look he proceeded to explain everything to him, including what he intended to do during the following race which would take place in Kyoto in the first weekend of May.

'Oh wow,' Yuuichi said, 'that's a very good idea, a little dangerous though.'

'Hey,' Bunta complained, 'this time it was only the radiator's hose, what happens if they tamper with our brakes next?'

'Yeah, I see your point,' Yuuichi said, 'and I thought JTCC was heavy-metal.'

'Nah,' Bunta said, 'rallying is a lot more extreme. That's the reason why I like it.'

'I knew you'd say something like that,' Yuuichi said.

Bunta let out a chuckle then, looking at his best friend, he tried to come up with a good way for him to bring up the topic they had talked about during the way to the airport, three long days before. Alas, he wasn't one to discuss such personal matters freely so he had just decided to be quiet when Yuuichi spoke:

'Do you remember what we talked about just before you left?'

'Yeah,' Bunta cautiously said.

'Well,' Yuuichi continued, 'Kumiko-chan arranged for Fuka and I to see one of the doctors at the hospital where she works. They'll do some tests to try and figure out if there's anything wrong with us.'

'That's good,' Bunta commented.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'you were right by the way…'

'I usually am,' Bunta laughed.

'Idiot,' Yuuichi said then, he carried on talking, 'I told Fuka that we would stay together no matter what and she said she felt the same way.'

'I told you,' Bunta said, 'you and Fuka have been through so much already and you've always been together. I'm sure you two will be okay.'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'I'm sorry I panicked the other day.'

'Don't mention it,' Bunta replied.

'And if things get really bad,' Yuuichi said, 'we can always adopt…'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta warned him, 'you're doing it again.'

'What?'

'Can you please quit being so negative?' Bunta asked him, 'you always seem to be getting ready for the worst case scenario instead of trying to remain positive. It's a miracle you have any self-confidence at all.'

'Bunta…'

'Seriously,' he said, 'you don't even know if there's something wrong and you're already thinking of adopting kids. You know I'm all up for having a plan B but, you're not even considering having a plan A, are you?'

'Er…'

'You need to be positive for Fuka's sake too,' Bunta concluded.

'You're right,' Yuuichi said quietly.

'Like I said,' Bunta replied, 'I usually am.'

Yuuichi offered him a smile and then, the two of them moved the topic of their conversation to the current baseball season and the fact that the Yomiuri Giants were still going strong. In fact, it looked like they were set to win the Central League for the second year in a row.

They were approaching Shibukawa when Yuuichi said:

'I'm thinking of buying a new car.'

'Really?' Bunta asked looking surprised.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'I know that this one is still running fine but I think I need something…I don't know…'

'Bigger?' Bunta suggested.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'I mean, this car's great and I've spent a lot of money on it but, it's getting old and I would like to get something more comfortable so that we can use it for long road trips.'

'Do you have any car in mind?' Bunta asked him.

'Not yet,' Yuuichi replied, 'I'm still looking around to see what's on offer.'

'Okay,' Bunta said.

'But if I do buy a new car,' Yuuichi said, 'can I count on you to test it out for me?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied with a smirk.

'Great,' Yuuichi said happily.

A few minutes after that, he stopped his Capella outside the Fujiwara Tofu Shop and Bunta, thanking his best friend for the lift, climbed out of the car and waited till Yuuichi left. He was going to the petrol station to start his afternoon shift. Bunta then turned round and stepped onto the shop's working area where he found his uncle.

'Hey,' the old man said.

'What do you think you're doing?' Bunta asked him.

'Cleaning the machine,' Eikichi replied stating the obvious, 'I wasn't aware I needed your permission…'

'Eikichi…'

'I'm fine,' the man said, 'even Kumi-chan says I'm looking better so stop fussing, okay?'

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'but be careful and don't overdo it, okay?'

Eikichi didn't even reply making Bunta shake his head in resignation. He then walked towards the entrance of the house and, kicking his shoes off, he padded onto the tatami and went upstairs to his room. He checked his wristwatch and saw that it was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon. Kumiko still had one hour left to finish her shift.

Dropping his bag onto his bed, he took out the parcel with the white chocolate he'd bought for her, placing it onto his bedside table and, forgetting about the rest of the stuff, he went to the bathroom so he could take a much needed shower.

Bunta had his jumper half way up his head when he heard the phone ringing. He waited a couple of seconds to see if his uncle would go and pick it up when, deciding it was better if he did it instead, he finished removing the garment, threw it on the floor and started running downstairs.

'Fujiwara Tofu Shop,' he said grabbing the receiver.

'Hey, you're home,' he heard Kogashiwa's voice say.

'Obviously,' Bunta couldn't help but to reply.

Kogashiwa made some grunt-like noise before he said:

'I just wanted to remind you that you owe me a race.'

'Yeah,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I was going to call you.'

'Of course,' Kogashiwa said sceptically, 'and I was going to hold my breath.'

Bunta simply ignored the comment.

'Anyway,' he heard Kogashiwa say, 'while I watched the rally, I had an idea,' he stopped talking to see if Bunta said anything but, since he didn't, the guy continued speaking, 'the only way we'll prove who is the best is if we race in different conditions, right?'

'If you say so.'

'So,' Kogashiwa carried on, 'let's race in Akina before the snow melts and, the winner of the race will decide what we do next. What do you think?'

Bunta thought about it for a moment then, seeing as he would not get this over with unless he agreed with Kogashiwa's seemingly absurd plan, he sighed and said:

'Alright, when are you free?'

'What about next weekend?'

'Eh…'

'What?' Kogashiwa said, 'need more time to get mentally prepared?'

'Don't be ridiculous,' Bunta countered then, resigning himself, he said, 'alright, next weekend it is.'

'Nine o'clock?'

'Nine will be fine,' Bunta confirmed.

'Good,' Kogashiwa said sounding way too happy, 'see you then.'

Bunta stared at the receiver for a few moments even after Kogashiwa had hanged up on him. He wasn't worried about racing him, however, he felt a tad weird thinking that it had been ages since the last time he'd had a proper street race. He then decided that he'd use the upcoming days to get the 2000GT ready.

'Everything alright?' he heard Eikichi's voice coming from the shop's working area.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied then, glancing at the living room's clock, he saw that he now had less than forty minutes before Kumiko would finish her shift so, replacing the phone's receiver onto its cradle, he went back upstairs so that he could take a shower and get changed. He'd finish unpacking later.

Nearly half an hour later, he grabbed his jacket, the car keys and the parcel containing the Rokkaitei chocolate and, walking back downstairs where he found Eikichi watching the news.

'You're okay?' Bunta asked him.

'Yeah,' he replied, 'I'm just taking a break.'

'That's good,' Bunta commented then, he added, 'I'm off to pick Kumiko up, we'll probably come back here for dinner.'

'Excellent,' Eikichi said, 'I'll cook something.'

'You don't…'

'Hey,' Eikichi warned him.

'Okay, okay,' Bunta accepted, 'just don't…'

'…overdo it,' Eikichi finished, 'I know. You tell me so often I've got it etched onto my brain.'

Shaking his head, Bunta just walked out of the living room, put his shoes on and made his way out of the shop and towards his beloved 2000GT. He would use the short ride to the hospital to start seeing what he'd need to do to the car.

As he usually did whenever he drove to Shibukawa's General Hospital, he parked right in front of the main entrance and, keeping the engine on, he waited for Kumiko to come out of the building. He found that he was looking forward to seeing her so much that he kept glancing at the little clock set on the dashboard.

Five minutes later, he saw her.

He was about to climb out of the car when she saw him. Her surprised expression made him smile and he was glad that he hadn't told her he was coming to pick her up. Kumiko made her way to the car and, opening the door at the passenger's side, she said:

'What are you doing here?'

'Surprised?' he asked.

'Very,' she replied, 'I thought you wouldn't be home till the evening.'

'Nah,' Bunta said, 'we got an early flight. Both Shin and I couldn't wait to get home but, get on, it's freezing.'

For some reason, Kumiko hesitated and Bunta was about to ask her what was wrong when she finally sat inside the car, closed the door and used a bit of time to fasten the four point seat belt Bunta had installed in her seat.

'What's up?' he asked her.

'Nothing,' she replied all-too-quickly, 'I'm just surprised you're here, that's all.'

'Ah,' Bunta said, he then took the parcel and giving it to her, he said, 'I know it's not until tomorrow and that it usually works the other way round but, here, Happy Valentines.'

'Oh,' Kumiko gasped then, taking the parcel in her hands, she looked for some eternally long moments as though as she was going to burst into tears. Bunta grew rather alarmed when she failed to say anything and for some frantic seconds, he raked his brain trying to come up with something to say.

'Kumiko…'

'Thanks,' she finally muttered.

'It's just chocolate,' he said.

'I know,' she said with a tiny voice.

'Seriously,' he insisted, 'what's wrong?'

'Nothing,' she repeated.

'Okay,' Bunta said not sounding too convinced, 'so, where do you want to go?'

'Eh?'

'It's still early,' he explained, 'I told Eikichi we'd go home for dinner, he's cooking, but we have a couple of hours before that. Where do you want to go?'

'I don't know,' Kumiko replied.

'We could drive to Takasaki,' he suggested.

'Yes,' Kumiko said, 'that'd be a good idea. One of the girls said that one of the cafes there has set up some special decorations for Valentines. I don't know.'

'That sounds good,' Bunta decided.

'Okay,' Kumiko said.

Unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong with his girlfriend, he decided to drive off and try and get it out of her during their way to Takasaki. The feeling only increased when Kumiko started talking non-stop about some of the hospital gossip.

'So,' she said, 'she ended up saying that it wasn't her job to check things with the pharmacy and that the senior nurse should have done it instead and, you know what the doctor said?'

'Kumiko,' Bunta said, 'why are you so nervous?'

'What?'

'We've almost arrived to Takasaki and you haven't stopped talking,' Bunta said.

'Oh,' Kumiko said.

'You're not one who talks a lot,' Bunta explained, 'yet, it's all you've been doing for the past half an hour.'

'Ah,' the girl said.

'So,' he asked, 'what's wrong? Is there anything you…'

'No,' Kumiko replied, 'I'm just…I wasn't counting on seeing you so soon and…I'm just surprised, that's all.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes,' Kumiko said but for some reason she refused to look at him. Bunta was getting really worried but, seeing as he would not get anything out of her, he decided to ignore it and, instead, he nodded and said:

'Okay, since you're sure, I'll forget about it.'

Kumiko didn't say anything to that and that forced Bunta to continue:

'So, what did the doctor say?'

The girl looked at him as though as she was disoriented but then, realising he was asking her to continue her random rant from earlier, she answered to his question and the two were still talking about several incidents she'd witnessed at the hospital when they parked the car outside the café.

Bunta felt his eyebrows rise in astonishment when he saw what he thought was the mother of the tackiest decorations. The whole place was invaded by balloons and little white, red and silver ribbons. There were little cupids everywhere and even the tables had been covered with a red tablecloth.

'Oh my gosh,' Kumiko said looking every bit as dismayed as he felt.

'You really want to go in there?' he asked her sounding very hopeful.

'I don't think so,' Kumiko replied shaking her head. Her big brown eyes were wide with shock and that made Bunta laugh. He was, once again, glad that his girlfriend was such a sensible woman and, smiling at her, he said:

'Let's go somewhere else.'

'Yes please,' she replied.

They ended up going to a bar the owners of which seemed to be immune to the whole Valentine's bug and, once there, they ordered a couple of cappuccinos. Kumiko seemed to calm down a bit and that made Bunta think that maybe something had happened to her while at work which had made her a bit upset.

'Bunta,' she said while they waited for the coffee.

'Yes?'

'I've done something you might not approve.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked her wondering if she was going to tell him the reason why she was so nervous. Instead, she looked down at her lap and, with a tiny voice, she said:

'I helped Fuka-san with…'

'Oh,' Bunta interrupted her, 'I know about that,' he said then, seeing her confused expression, he explained, 'Yuuichi told me you've arranged an appointment for them with someone from the hospital.'

'Ah,' Kumiko said.

'It's okay,' Bunta assured her, 'I'm actually grateful you offered them help. Those two would have never done anything about it if someone hadn't pushed them to do it. You know, it's a bit annoying how, when it comes to other people's problems, they're prepared to move mountains but, when it's their own.'

'I know,' Kumiko said finally smiling.

'I don't understand a thing about medicine,' Bunta admitted, 'so I don't know what might be wrong…'

'Oh,' Kumiko said, 'it might be a number of things. I think the best way to handle this is to take it from the easiest thing, for all we know, Fuka might just be suffering from temporary anovulation.'

'From-what-now?' Bunta asked frowning.

'Lack of ovulation,' Kumiko explained, 'she might not be producing eggs. This can often happen if there's malnutrition or in case of stress, which might be Fuka's case, considering how anxious she is to get pregnant.'

'Okay,' Bunta said.

'There are other factors to take into account,' she said, 'but the doctor will probably advise them regarding the tests which they need to go through. If you ask me, what's most important now is that they're calm since, like I said, stress can be the cause of all their problems.'

'You know,' Bunta said, 'hearing you talking like that.'

'Yes?'

'It's kind of sexy.'

'Bunta!'

'Hey,' he laughed, 'I'm just being honest.'

'Oh, be quiet,' she said blushing in a way Bunta found so terribly adorable that he forced himself to look at somewhere else. It was a happy thing that the waiter chose that same moment to bring them their order.

About half an hour later and with Kumiko back to her usual quiet self, they drove back to Shibukawa having decided to stop by her apartment so that she could get changed when, just at the spot where he usually parked his car when he came to see her, he saw a silver Corona he recalled having seen somewhere before.

He didn't have the time to think about it when he heard Kumiko gasping loudly.

'What's…'

Bunta never finished the sentence, instead, his mind was sent into an overload when he saw the two people who were climbing out of the car. He recognised them instantly: they were Kumiko's older sister Seiko and her husband. Despite this, he still somehow found his voice to do what was a pretty poor attempt at trying to hide his panic so, speaking as casually as possible, he said:

'A bit late for a visit, huh?'

Kumiko didn't even reply. She just stared at the couple who were walking towards the 2000GT with the kind of panicked and horrified expression he'd only seen once before on the face of the very woman who was now standing outside the car.

'What's going on Kumiko?' he managed to ask.

_To be continued…_


	74. Chapter Seventy Three

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy Three_

Bunta climbed out of the 2000GT quickly falling into a state of deep confusion mixed with an irrational fear and a large dose of embarrassment. Glancing at Kumiko, he saw that her expression hadn't changed and she still looked as shocked and upset. He then saw Seiko's eyes widen in surprise seeing her younger sister together with her former boyfriend.

It was the reaction of Seiko's husband Ryo Nakajima which turned an already surreal situation into something hysterically funny when, looking pleased to see famous racer Bunta Fujiwara standing there, he smiled and said:

'Hey, I watched your race!'

'Eh?' Bunta asked.

'I expected it, you know?' he continued, 'I even told my work colleagues that it didn't matter whether you raced in JTCC or Rallying: you'd still be amazing and I was right! The way you drive on the snow gave me goose bumps!'

'Er…thanks, I guess,' Bunta said feeling suddenly self-conscious.

'What are you doing with him?' Seiko finally asked reminding everyone that there was a long list of unanswered questions. Bunta noticed that his ex-girlfriend was staring at her younger sister as though as she could not believe her own eyes and, in turn, Kumiko looked like all she wanted to do was disappear.

'Why don't we go inside?' Ryo asked, 'it's rather cold.'

Since Kumiko still refused to speak, she just nodded and she had taken a step away from the 2000GT when Seiko grabbed her sister by her arm and, turning her around so that they would be face to face and asked:

'What are you doing with Bunta?'

Kumiko just bit her lower lip looking utterly lost. Bunta was about to speak when Ryo closed the short distance which separated him from his wife then, placing a hand onto one of her shoulders, he said:

'Seiko, it really is cold, if Kumiko-chan is so kind as to let us use her apartment, I'm sure we'll be more comfortable if we talk in there.'

'Dear…'

'Be reasonable,' Ryo insisted then, looking at Kumiko, he said, 'Kumiko-chan, you don't mind, do you?'

'No,' Kumiko finally answered.

'Good,' Ryo said and glancing at Bunta, he added, 'I don't want to sound rude but we need to discuss some family matters and…'

'Wait a minute,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I think I have the right to know what's going on in here.'

'Why?' Seiko asked, 'and can someone please tell me what you two are doing together?'

'Kumiko and I _are_ together,' Bunta finally said further shocking an already speechless Kumiko.

'What?' Seiko repeated.

'Like I said,' Ryo interrupted, 'it's cold. Let's go into…'

'Your sister and I are dating,' Bunta explained.

'Since when?' Seiko demanded.

'October last year,' Bunta replied then, feeling annoyed at the fact that Seiko sounded like a jealous girlfriend and seeing how little right she had to act like that made him say, 'what's it to you anyway?'

That quieted Seiko and, once again, her husband intervened:

'So,' he said, 'let me get this straight: you're dating Kumiko-chan.'

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'Ah, I see…'

'Seiko,' Kumiko finally found her voice, 'what are you doing here?'

'I should ask you the same question,' Seiko replied, 'you know how upset Mum is about…'

'My answer is still no,' Kumiko said. Bunta noticed that her defiant tone of voice reminded him of when he'd first met her as a fifteen year old girl. He was about to speak again when Kumiko said, 'and using Mum to blackmail me is cheap, even for you.'

'Kumiko…' Bunta started.

'Why are you always so stubborn?' Seiko asked, still speaking to her sister.

'I wouldn't need to be if you weren't so insistent,' Kumiko replied.

'Okay,' Bunta finally snapped, 'will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?'

'You haven't told him?' Ryo asked Kumiko.

'No, she hasn't,' Bunta replied while glaring at his girlfriend. He felt such a strong sense of déjà-vu that he wanted to scream all his frustration. Instead, he limited himself with crossing his arms onto his chest and waited for any of the two sisters to start talking. Instead, it was Seiko's husband who spoke:

'Do you remember that I work for a multinational company?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied failing to see what this had to do with anything.

'Well,' Ryo said, 'they've offered me a senior position in our office in New York and I've accepted it with the condition that I get to take my family with me.'

'And?' Bunta managed to ask despite the fact that he already knew the answer.

'Well,' Ryo replied, 'Seiko's parents are also coming with us and they thought it would be good if Kumiko-chan could move with them so that we would keep the whole family together.'

'What?' Bunta nearly whispered. He then looked at Kumiko and said, 'is this true?'

'Yes,' Kumiko said, 'but I don't want to move and I've already said so,' she added glaring at her sister.

'Kumiko…'

'Seiko,' she interrupted her, 'I'm not going to move to the US. For one, I can't even speak English and…'

'And?' Seiko challenged.

'And I don't want to leave him,' Kumiko replied glancing briefly at her boyfriend. Bunta had the distinct impression that the girl wanted to add "like you did" but had just about managed to restrain herself.

'That sounds reasonable,' Ryo said surprising everybody.

'Dear!' Seiko exclaimed, 'you know what that means…'

'Seiko,' the man said, 'I think that your sister has already made her mind up and she's more than prepared to deal with the consequences of her decision, am I right?' he asked looking at Kumiko.

'Yes,' the girl replied resolutely.

'Kumiko,' Seiko said, 'if you agree to move with us, Father is willing to overlook the fact that you refused to marry Hiyoshi-san.'

'How very generous of him!' Kumiko exclaimed sarcastically then, she added, 'maybe he should have thought twice before he kicked me out of the house.'

'He did what?' Bunta asked, 'I thought you moved out.'

Ignoring him, the girl carried on with her tirade:

'You should know better than this Seiko,' she said, 'after what Father put _you _through, you still have the guts to come here and tell me that I should just let him continue controlling our lives like he's always done.'

'Kumiko…' Bunta tried again, he frowned while he looked at Seiko's husband, worried that he'd take offence. As it turned out, the man didn't even flinch, instead, he looked at Kumiko and said:

'Kumiko-chan, I can't speak for your father but I know that Seiko's wish is to keep the family together.'

'That's right,' Seiko said, 'I really want us to be one big united family and we can all have a fresh start altogether in the US.'

'You'll have to do without me,' Kumiko said, 'because I-AM-NOT-GOING.'

'Fujiwara-san,' Ryo intervened once again, 'before we leave…'

'Dear!' Seiko interrupted him.

'…before we leave,' he ignored her, 'I want to ask you something.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked him.

'What are your intentions with Kumiko-chan?' he asked keeping such a neutral tone that made Bunta understand the reason why this guy was such a good businessman. Bunta squared his shoulders and, looking at him with his most serious expression, he said:

'I want us to get married.'

'What?' a surprised Seiko said, voicing the very question Kumiko seemed to be ready to ask.

'This is not the way I would have liked to do this,' Bunta continued, 'but,' he added looking at Kumiko, 'do you remember when I told you that I had something special in mind for Valentine's?'

'Yes,' Kumiko somehow managed to reply.

'Well,' Bunta said, 'I wanted to take you out for dinner and I wanted to ask you to marry me.'

There. He'd said it. And now he found himself holding his breath while doing his best to appear calm.

'Are you serious?' Kumiko asked.

Bunta just nodded.

'But…'

'I know we've only been together for four months,' he said, 'but I'm ready to take the next step if you are.'

'Bunta,' Kumiko said, 'I don't know what to say…'

'A "yes" is usually a happy choice,' a grinning Bunta said and that made her smile too.

'Yes,' she finally said, 'I'd love to be your wife.'

'I'd say this settles it,' Ryo concluded.

'Dear…'

'Seiko,' he said using a tone which left very little room for negotiation, 'it is clear to me that your sister is in good hands and, to be honest with you, I never agreed with your father's plan to force her to move with us.'

'Dear…'

'You know as well as I do that she'll never be happy in the US,' he said, 'just as she won't be happy if we separate her from Fujiwara-san or force her to quit her job at the hospital. I'm right and you know it so, if you don't want to lose your sister forever, I think the best thing we can do is to leave her here in Japan.'

'Nakajima-san…'

'Kumiko-chan,' the man said with a kind smile, 'don't worry about your father, I'll handle him. Just promise to both your sister and I that you'll take care of yourself and that you'll do your best to be happy.'

'Dear…'

'Seiko,' Ryo said resolutely, 'we're leaving now, use this chance to say your goodbyes.'

The two sisters looked at each other, hesitating for a few painfully long seconds then, taking the first step towards her, Seiko wrapped her arms around her little sister in what looked like their first proper hug ever. Kumiko, after a moment longer, returned the hug and they remained like that for a short while.

'I'll be happy,' Kumiko promised.

'Okay,' Seiko said then, pulling away from her, she glanced at Bunta and said, 'make him happy too, okay?'

Kumiko nodded and then they broke the embrace.

'I wish things were different,' Seiko said.

'Me too,' Kumiko agreed.

'I'll write to you once we settle down,' Seiko promised, 'maybe one day you and Bunta will come and visit?'

'Maybe,' Kumiko said.

'Okay,' Ryo said, 'congratulations are also in order. I'm only sorry we won't be here for the wedding but, know that we'll do our best in America so, you two do your best here too, okay?'

'We will,' Bunta replied.

'Good,' Ryo said, 'I'll also do my best to keep an eye on your career. Hopefully you'll do honour to Japan in some international championship.'

'I'll do my best,' Bunta promised.

'Seiko,' the man said, 'we really need to go now, I think we've left the boys with your mother for long enough, we still have to travel for an hour before we get home and it looks like it's going to snow again.'

'Alright,' Seiko said and, looking at her sister for one last time, she smiled in a way which made Bunta feel like he was eighteen all over again. She then followed her husband back to the silver Corona and, a few moments later, they were gone.

'Bunta…'

'Yes?' he said.

'Were you serious, you know, when…'

'Of course I was,' Bunta said, 'but I need to ask you a favour.'

'What is it?' Kumiko asked.

'Never,' Bunta said, 'and I mean _never _keep stuff from me again. I promise I won't become as controlling as your father but I want you to let me know when you have problems, otherwise how am I supposed to help you?'

'I'm sorry,' Kumiko said, 'it's just that…'

'Look,' he interrupted her, 'you know stuff about me that not even Uncle Eikichi knows, that's as much as I trust you. I would like to think that you can trust me just as much as I do.'

'I do,' Kumiko assured him.

'Then tell me when something's bothering you, okay?'

'Yes,' Kumiko said, 'I promise.'

'Good,' Bunta said, 'now, Nakajima's right, it's freezing cold and we really need to go too, we're already late and Eikichi is probably wondering where the heck we are,' then, as an afterthought, he added, 'also, I happen to have a certain something you might want to start wearing from today onwards.'

'Eh?'

'Your ring,' Bunta explained, 'I have it at home, I seriously was going to give it to you tomorrow but since the original plan is blown, I think I'll just give it to you now and share the happy news with my uncle. What do you think?'

'Sounds like a good idea,' Kumiko agreed.

'Of course it is,' Bunta replied with a smug smile on his face.

Not having the time for Kumiko to get changed, they both climbed back into the 2000GT and made their way to the Fujiwara Tofu Shop. On their way there, Kumiko explained to Bunta everything which had happened with her father, including the fact that when she failed to agree to the marriage he'd arranged for her so that she could go to the nursing school, he had kicked her out of the house telling her that he no longer considered her part of his family and forcing her to take up several part time jobs in order to sustain herself and pay for her lessons.

Upsetting as it was, Bunta perfectly understood her when she told him that nowadays, it was she who didn't want to have anything to do with her parents and he noticed that she felt even more resentful towards her mother, blaming her for not having been able to do anything to help her.

'I know that with Father being the way he is it was impossible for her to do anything,' she said while he parked the car outside the shop, 'but still, she could have_ tried_ to do or say something and she didn't. That's why I can't forgive her.'

'I get it,' Bunta said stopping the engine.

'But I'm not worried,' Kumiko said, 'thanks to you I don't feel lonely anymore.'

'That's a good thing to hear,' Bunta concluded and, unable to restrain himself any longer, he pulled her into a bear-like hug finally releasing all the stress and fear he'd felt when he thought he would lose Kumiko. That showed him just how much he loved her and how over the moon he was about the fact that she was now his fiancée. He still could not believe it.

'Bunta,' he heard her say.

'Mmh,' he mumbled.

'We need to go inside,' she said, 'your uncle is waiting for us.'

Very reluctantly, Bunta released her but not before he planted a kiss on her lips then, with a cheeky grin, he climbed out of the car and ran towards her door, making it just in time to open it. For some reason that made her smile again and, getting out of the car, she said:

'Thanks.'

'No problem,' he said.

By the time they finally made it inside the house, Eikichi was already finishing his portion of the tempura he'd prepared. Bunta was about to explain everything to him so that the old man would not get angry when Kumiko knelt next to Eikichi and said:

'I'm so sorry, it's all my fault.'

'Kumi-chan…'

'We had a few problems,' Bunta said sitting down by the table, 'it's a long story but before we get to it, I would like to know if you're still feeling well.'

'Of course I am,' Eikichi said, 'why are you asking? Have you done anything to your car?'

'Of course not,' Bunta replied, 'we wanted you to know that I just proposed to Kumiko and she's accepted.'

'Really?' Eikichi asked looking at Kumiko.

'Yes,' she replied.

'Are you sure?' he still asked.

'Yes,' she repeated, this time smiling at him.

'Oh well,' Eikichi said, 'as long as you know what kind of rascal you're about to marry.'

'Eikichi!' Bunta exclaimed.

'I know,' Kumiko said, 'and I'll be very happy to be his wife.'

'Okay then,' Eikichi said, 'if that's the case, let me be the first to congratulate you.'

Neither of them had the heart to tell him that Ryo and Seiko had already preceded him so, saying thanks, the two of them exchanged a smile. Then, just as Kumiko was going to get up so that she could do something about their dinner, Eikichi said:

'Where are you planning on living, once you're married?'

'Oh,' Kumiko gasped, she then looked at Bunta and waited to see what he replied.

'Well,' Bunta started, 'I was kind of hoping that Kumiko would want to move in here. I know you say you're feeling better but I still want to be able to keep an eye on you, besides, I kind of like living here and…'

'Then that's sorted,' Eikichi said and, judging by the way he smiled at the newly engaged couple, he had just heard what he wanted to hear, 'you know,' he added talking to Kumiko, 'other than Fuka-chan, there hasn't been a woman living in the house ever since my mother passed away. It'll be a nice change.'

'I'm grateful you think so,' Kumiko said.

'Well,' Eikichi said, 'I'd say the occasion calls for a celebration and, since this tempura is already ruined, what do you say if we go out and get some sushi and maybe a glass of beer?'

'No, no,' Kumiko said, 'you know you're not supposed to drink alcohol.'

'Oh come on,' Eikichi nearly begged, 'just a small one, please?'

'Eikichi-san…'

'Half a glass,' Eikichi bargained, 'final offer,' he added.

'Okay,' Kumiko accepted, 'but only because it's a very special day.'

Bunta had to repress a chuckle when he saw his uncle spring up from the floor and making it out of the door so fast that he had trouble believing that the old man had ever suffered a heart attack. He then decided that today was one of the happiest days of his life.

However, there was one thing which marred it and it was the fact that Kumiko had been forced to choose living her life as she saw fit over having a proper family. But, thinking about it in a rational manner, Bunta decided that it didn't matter all that much: one day, hopefully soon, he and Kumiko would have kids and form their own family…

That same Saturday, right after dinnertime, Bunta drove the 2000GT on his way to his fiancée's apartment, enjoying the results of the servicing he'd done in the car. In addition to the work he and Masashi had done to the suspensions, brakes and tyres, Yoshida's friend Katayama had also taken care of the beast which roared under the Toyota's hood.

'Is it me,' Kumiko asked once she climbed into the car, 'or something sounds different.'

'I'm glad you noticed,' he said.

'Bunta,' she said, 'when you told me you were going to race Kogashiwa-san, you didn't really mean that you'd race him, right?'

He stared at her and, offering her a lopsided smile, he said:

'Of course it'll be a race.'

'But,' she said, 'will it be a race-race or just a race?'

'Now you've lost me,' Bunta laughed, 'what exactly is the difference between a "race-race" and "just a race"?'

'You're making fun of me,' she protested.

'No, just curious,' Bunta said gently.

'Okay,' Kumiko replied, 'I'm just trying to imagine what you guys do up there. I mean, I know it's not legal.'

'No, really?' Bunta asked pretending to be scandalised.

'Bunta,' Kumiko warned him, 'be serious.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'it's fairly simple: the two of us will start at the top of Mt Akina and then we'll drive downhill. The one who gets to the base first wins and, yes, it's not exactly legal but that's the reason why we race at night, when there's as little traffic as possible.'

'Isn't it dangerous?' she asked him.

'It can be,' he replied honestly, 'but both Kogashiwa and I know well how far we can push each other and, even if it kills me to admit it, he's a fairly decent driver so we should be fine.'

Kumiko didn't say anything to that, instead, she played with her brand new solitaire.

'Don't worry,' Bunta added, 'I won't hurt myself, I promise.'

'Okay,' she finally said offering him a small smile.

They got to the base of Mt Akina a few minutes later and there, they saw Yuuichi and Fuka standing by the six years old, dark blue Mazda Capella. Next to them, Masashi was conversing with three members of the Akina Firebolts and, to Bunta's surprise, he saw that Keiichi Tsuchiya was there too, waving furiously at him.

'Hey kid,' Bunta said climbing out of the car.

'Long time no see!' Keiichi exclaimed smiling at him, 'I see that beauty of yours is looking better than ever,' he added then, noticing Kumiko, he said, 'oh, hello, who is she?'

'She's my fiancée Kumiko,' Bunta replied.

Except Yuuichi and Fuka who had found out a few days ago, no one else knew about Bunta and Kumiko's engagement and the news pretty much provoked the same reaction from everyone. Masashi was the first to recover and, looking both happy and annoyed, he said:

'Hey, how come you didn't say anything?'

Bunta just shrugged his shoulders and scratched his cheek like he usually did when he was nervous or embarrassed. Then, the best way he could, he endured it while everyone congratulated him, including Keiichi who had started looking at Kumiko as though as she was some sort of alien.

'Wow,' he gasped, 'to think that I thought I was the one who had great news.'

'What's up?' Bunta asked him sounding interested.

'It's so recent I still can't believe it.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked. If it had been someone else, he would have been annoyed but, for some reason, he'd always had a soft spot for Keiichi, 'it must be pretty big if you're so excited.'

'Yeah,' Keiichi replied, 'you know, I finally got proper sponsorship for my car.'

'Really?' Bunta asked, 'that's great! Congratulations man.'

'I know,' Keiichi said, 'I'm still a bit upset that I didn't make it in time to race with you.'

'Hey, it's okay,' Bunta commented, 'there are plenty of good drivers out there and I'm sure you'll find a rival worth your talent. It'll take a while for you to get used to circuit racing but I'm sure you'll do great.'

'Thanks,' Keiichi replied, 'it means the world to me that you think that.'

'You never know,' Bunta said, 'maybe, one day, we'll compete somewhere together.'

'And if not,' Keiichi said, 'we always have the passes, right?'

'Naturally,' Bunta replied.

Keiichi was about to say something when, not too far away, they heard the sound of another car coming and, judging by the exaggerated roar, it could only be the midnight blue 1972 GT-R Kogashiwa still insisted on driving.

'Hello,' the guy said the instant he climbed out of his car.

'Hey,' Bunta said.

'Since I can't hang around for too long,' he said, 'what do you say if we get things started?'

'Fine by me,' Bunta replied.

'Good,' Kogashiwa said then, not even bothering with greeting any of the present, he just climbed back into his car and made it roll towards the point of the track where traditionally the races started. Bunta followed him a short while later, giving himself enough time to leave Kumiko in the capable hands of Yuuichi and his wife Fuka.

'He'll be okay,' she told Kumiko seeing her slightly worried expression.

'He's the best,' Yuuichi said and his statement was met with the full consensus of every one of the racers there.

'I know,' Kumiko said sounding proud, 'it's just that it's the first time I see him in these kind of…events.'

Masashi smiled at that comment and, giving her a smile full of confidence, he said:

'Well Kumiko-chan, get ready to watch your fiancé in his element because, when he races here in Akina, is when he really gives his best. You won't see him drive anywhere else the way he drives in this pass.'

After saying that, Masashi treaded through the snow which still covered most of the road to get in front of Bunta's white Toyota and Kogashiwa's midnight blue Nissan. He raised his gloved fist up in the air and, counting down from five, he shouted:

'GO!'

Kumiko gasped when she saw the absurd speed at which both cars took off. She thought it was surely impossible to drive a car as fast as that with the road in such precarious conditions and watching the two cars clearing the first corner of the pass made her shiver.

'Are you cold?' Fuka asked her.

'No,' Kumiko replied, 'that was…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi replied simply.

Meanwhile, Kogashiwa had the immense displeasure of seeing his arch-rival overtake him with stupid ease at the first left-hander of the course and found it even more insulting that, despite all the work he'd put into improving his Nissan, Bunta still was faster.

'That bastard,' he muttered.

He then tried to follow the 2000GT through the series of fast corners which marked the beginning of Mt Akina, noticing with consternation that the longer they raced, the wider the gap got and by the time they made it to the five hairpins, Kogashiwa finally realised what was wrong.

It wasn't the fact that it was his first race in over six months, or that his car hadn't been properly tuned. No, it was something a lot simpler than that: Bunta's driving skills had reached a whole new level of perfection and beating him here in Akina was now an impossible feat.

Kogashiwa had known it all along but it still hurt him that he crossed the finish line a good nine seconds after Bunta. It took every single bit of his willpower not to drive past the 2000GT so that he could head back home.

'Okay,' he said when he got out of the car, 'you've won so, what do you want to do now?'

Bunta looked at him and, shrugging his shoulders, he said:

'I know your kid's going to be born soon.'

'That has nothing to do with our challenge,' Kogashiwa countered.

'I just thought that…'

'Fujiwara,' he said, 'you know I won't be satisfied until I beat you here in Akina.'

Bunta thought about it for a short while then, he said:

'Let's do this: we'll wait till the summer to race again. However loses that race will have to admit that the other is a better driver. What do you think?'

'Alright,' Kogashiwa said dryly, 'we've got a deal.'

He then climbed back into his Nissan and, glancing at the rear view mirror, he watched Bunta get back into his own ride so that he could drive back uphill. Only then, Kogashiwa promised himself that sooner or later he would beat Bunta Fujiwara and that he'd do it here in Akina.

_To be continued…_


	75. Chapter Seventy Four

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy Four_

The month of April had been abnormally warm and now that it was the beginning of May temperatures were only getting higher. Today was so hot that Bunta decided to leave the shop's front door open hoping that this way they would get some fresh air inside the house.

'Here,' Kumiko said giving him a glass of iced tea.

'Thanks,' he replied, 'is Eikichi still sleeping?'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied, 'I know he's finally back to normal but I think it's important that he keeps getting his afternoon nap since he's insists on preparing the tofu during the evening.'

'That's because it's only time we can do it to make sure it's fresh when we deliver it,' Bunta said.

'I know,' she replied then, for the umpteenth time since she arrived for lunchtime, she glanced at the clock.

'At what time did they have the appointment?' Bunta asked taking a sip from his drink.

'Two o'clock,' Kumiko replied.

'They'll be okay,' Bunta reassured her, 'Dr Yanagisawa seems like a competent man to me.'

'He is,' Kumiko told him.

Bunta sat down by the table and, grabbing one of Eikichi's newspapers, he started reading it while Kumiko busied herself at the kitchen. She got back soon afterwards carrying a small plate with melon cubes on it. Placing it in front of Bunta, she said:

'Yesterday, while I was at the city centre I went to the registrar.'

'Ah,' Bunta said, he put the paper down and looked at her, 'how long do we have to wait?'

'Well,' Kumiko said, 'they said that the soonest we can submit the application is on the fifteenth. But we must have all the documents ready by then.'

'If we get married then,' Bunta said, 'will you be able to get some days off?'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied, 'I spoke Dr Yanagisawa this morning and he said that I could take a whole week if I need to but not after the last week of May because we have the new recruits arriving and we will need to be fully staffed to look after them properly.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'the fifteenth it is then. What documents do we need?'

'Just the birth certificate and a couple of other forms,' Kumiko replied, 'I left them at the apartment but I'll bring them here tomorrow,' she stopped speaking and then, almost as if she wasn't sure if she wanted to say it, she looked at Bunta and said, 'while I was at it, I also applied for the driving test.'

'About time you did,' Bunta replied with a smile.

'Oh, I don't know,' Kumiko said sounding very anxious, 'what if they fail me?'

'They won't,' he said.

'But what if I get nervous and get the pedals mixed up?'

Letting out a chuckle, he shook his head and said:

'You won't get the pedals mixed up; do you remember what I told you about the ABC?'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied, 'Accelerator, Brake, Clutch,' she recited mimicking with her hands the position of the pedals as if she was in the car, 'it just that it's all so easy when you're with me in the car…but…on my own…'

'You're not a bad driver,' he said firmly, 'I wouldn't let you take the test if I didn't think you're ready.'

Kumiko bit her lower lip and even though she still looked unsure of herself, she nodded and said:

'Alright, I guess you're the expert here.'

'Yes I am,' Bunta said then, deciding that the conversation was over, he picked the paper back up and started reading while Kumiko ate a few of the melon cubes. She then got up and started re-arranging the magazines. Bunta observed her while pretending to read the paper and shook his head in resignation.

Hopefully Yuuichi and Fuka would let them know the outcome of their hospital visit soon enough, otherwise, he feared that once she was done with the cleaning, Kumiko would decide to start moving the furniture around in order to keep herself distracted.

At that same moment, Dr Yanagisawa opened his office's door so that Yuuichi and his wife could get out of the room. He smiled at them and, using a professional yet caring tone of voice, he said:

'If you have any other questions, all you need to do is call me, okay?'

'Yes,' Yuuichi said, 'thank you very much.'

'You're welcome,' the doctor said.

Fuka just nodded and, walking out of the office, she was quickly followed by her husband. The two of them made their way towards the exit without speaking to each other and it was only when they were near the car that Yuuichi said:

'Why don't we go for a walk? It's such a nice day today.'

'Okay,' Fuka replied quietly.

Yuuichi frowned a little but carried on walking.

The two of them were half way up the stairs which led to the shrine's park when Fuka stopped walking and, sitting on one of the steps, she looked at her husband with a very serious expression on her face and said:

'Yuuichi…'

'No,' he interrupted her.

'What?'

'I know what you're going to say and the answer is no,' he said.

'But…'

'No,' he repeated, 'I simply refuse to have this conversation with you.'

'Yuuichi…'

'Fuka,' he said sounding as serious as he looked, 'I said this before and I'll say it again: when I married you, I did it so that I could spend the rest of my life with you, because I…'

'You say this now,' she interrupted him, 'but what about in five or ten years? Will you still say the same?'

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, 'I don't care if we don't have kids.'

'That's not true,' Fuka accused him.

'Are you calling me a liar?' Yuuichi challenged her, 'that'd be a first.'

'Yuuichi,' she started, 'I just know how this will end and it's better if we end it now so that at least we can save our friendship. If I stay with you you'll end up hating me and…I…'

She stopped, tears and anguish making her unable to continue speaking. Yuuichi then sat next to her and hugging her tightly, he tried to keep an even tone of voice when he said:

'I don't want us to get a divorce.'

'But…'

'Fuka,' he said pulling her away from him so that they could look at each other's eyes, 'I love you. I married you because of that not because you could become a baby-making machine. It's true: I would have loved to be the father of your kids but if that can't happen, it's okay too.'

'No it's not,' she insisted.

'It is,' he countered, 'what is definitely not okay it's you telling me to divorce you so that I can have kids with someone else. The very thought of doing that makes me sick.'

'But it's my fault!' she exclaimed, 'if only I…'

'Look,' Yuuichi interrupted her again, 'you couldn't know that that…whatever it's called…'

'Endometriosis,' she supplied.

'Yeah, that,' he said, 'there was no way for you to know that it would make it difficult for you to get pregnant. Even Dr Yanagisawa said that it's very hard to correctly assess the damage that condition causes and, besides, he never said it would be impossible for us to…'

'Ten percent,' Fuka said dryly, 'he gave us a ten percent chance.'

'Well,' Yuuichi insisted, 'that's always better than zero, isn't it?'

'Yuuichi…'

'All I'm saying is that we need to be positive, okay?'

'But…'

'And if you say the D word again, I don't know what I'll do.'

'So,' Fuka said with a small smile, 'I can't say "doughnuts" again?'

'Very funny,' Yuuichi replied without returning the smile, 'I'm serious: it's you and I, we're a team and team mates always help each other, especially when things get tricky, okay?'

'Yes,' Fuka said.

'I love you, you know that, right?'

'Yes, I do,' Fuka replied, 'and I love you too.'

They hugged again and remained like that for a while. Yuuichi didn't even care when a couple of elders walked down the stairs and one of them commented on how the way young people were becoming so indecent would surely mean the end of their very civilised society.

By the time they made it to the Fujiwara Tofu Shop, Kumiko had nearly finished sorting out the glassware in the kitchen, having washed and dried every single item by hand and was about to move on to the crockery while Bunta had set the newspaper aside and was watching some old movie on TV.

'Is anybody home?' Yuuichi asked from the open door.

'Yes,' Bunta said, 'we're here.'

The married couple stepped onto the living room and, at that moment, Kumiko left everything she was doing and with eyes wide with expectation and concern, she nervously wrung the kitchen towel she still had in her hands and said:

'How did it go?'

'Not well,' Fuka replied.

'Oh…'

'But let's not talk about that,' Fuka said.

'Are you sure?' Kumiko asked her.

'Definitely,' Fuka replied, 'I want to know what you guys are going to do for the wedding. You've been engaged for nearly three months and you still haven't done anything about it!'

'We just decided the date,' Bunta announced.

'Really?' Yuuichi asked, 'when is it?'

'On the fifteenth,' Kumiko replied.

'Of?' Yuuichi asked.

'This month,' Kumiko supplied.

'What?' Fuka asked looking scandalised, 'that's just…'

'A week away,' Bunta finished for her, 'I know it's sudden but I have to be in Kyoto within the twenty third and Kumiko can't take time off after that in any case so it really is the only chance we have to get married AND go on honeymoon.'

'Where are you going to go?' Yuuichi asked.

'We haven't decided that yet,' Bunta replied

'We could go on a road trip,' Kumiko suggested, 'I've always wanted to visit the Ise-Shima National Park.'

'Oh!' Fuka exclaimed excitedly, 'I went there while I lived in Osaka. It's so beautiful! If you go there you _must _go to the Pearl Museum, they have really pretty things on display and they show you the different techniques used to make pearls artificially.'

'That sounds great,' Yuuichi said.

'Would that be okay?' Bunta asked her, 'I mean, we could go to Okinawa or even somewhere overseas.'

'No,' Kumiko replied, 'I don't really want to go abroad.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'Ise-Shima it is then.'

'Good,' Fuka concluded, 'now that we've settled that, we need to come up with the list of guests for the…' she stopped speaking realising that since, other than Eikichi, Bunta and Kumiko had no relatives who could be invited so this wedding would be slightly different than usual.

'We're not planning anything big,' Kumiko explained, 'just a few friends will be perfect.'

'Masashi and the rest of the guys will want to be there,' Yuuichi pointed out.

'I know,' Bunta said, 'I'm thinking of inviting Keiichi too and Yoshida-san if he's available.'

'What about your team?' Kumiko asked him.

'Of course,' Bunta replied, 'that's a given. Do you want to invite any of your work colleagues?'

'You should!' Fuka said, 'I mean, once you quit you won't see them often.'

'Quit?' Kumiko asked sounding surprised, 'I'm not going to stop working.'

'But…'

'She'll continue working at the hospital after the wedding,' Bunta said and noticing his best friend's disapproving expression forced him to add, 'and I'm okay with it as long as she's happy.'

'Oh well,' Yuuichi said, 'I guess it's okay.'

'I just worked too hard to become a nurse to quit now,' Kumiko explained, 'besides it would be silly to give up now that I've finished my training. From this month onwards, it will be me training other recruits and I'm honestly looking forward to that.'

'It does sound interesting,' Fuka said supportively.

'Anyway,' Bunta said looking Yuuichi, 'I take that you'll be happy to be my witness.'

'Of course,' he replied smiling happily.

'And I get to be yours, right?' Fuka asked looking at Kumiko.

'Naturally,' she said, 'if you don't mind…'

'Of course I don't,' she said then, getting excited again, she asked, 'what about the wedding dress? You _will _wear one, won't you?'

'Er…'

'And since we have little time,' she continued, 'we will need to find a hotel that's available for the ceremony.'

'What ceremony?' Kumiko asked.

'Well…' she started.

'Guys,' Bunta said, 'we've said this before: we just want something quiet, we were thinking of meeting up with everyone after submitting the registration and have a meal together somewhere nice.'

'Yes,' Kumiko said, 'I seriously don't want anything big and I don't think I'll need a dress. I have a kimono my grandmother passed onto me before she died and I want to wear that.'

'Are you sure?' Fuka asked sounding disappointed, 'you would look so cute in a princess cut dress.'

'Oh no,' Kumiko said, 'I wear white every day at work, I don't want to wear white on my wedding day too.'

'Fair enough,' Yuuichi commented.

'Besides,' Bunta intervened, 'I think a kimono will suit her much, much better than a western dress.'

'That's true too,' Fuka admitted, 'okay, but you will let me do your hair and the make up, okay?'

'Make up?' Kumiko asked horrified, 'I don't know if…'

'Kumiko,' Fuka said sternly, 'I've given in on the dress but I will make sure you look like a bride no matter what.'

The poor nurse looked at Bunta who, shrugging his shoulders, told her to try and be understanding. Kumiko, considering that Fuka had just got very bad news from Dr Yanagisawa, decided that she had to do her best to let Fuka have all the fun she wanted and for this reason, she said:

'Okay, I'll let you do my hair and the make up but I have to warn you that I don't even own a lipstick.'

'Oh!' Fuka exclaimed, 'that means we have to go shopping!'

Bunta fought with himself to repress a chuckle seeing the utterly terrified expression which appeared on Kumiko's face. He felt sorry for his fiancée but he thought that, for once, it would do her good to behave like the girl she was.

Exactly six days after that, Bunta and Yuuichi met up outside the Fujiwara Tofu Shop to go to what was going to be Bunta's second stag night. Yuuichi was careful not to mention that to his best friend but remembering the Bunta from that first time, when he was about to marry Midori, and the extremely happy man he had in front of him now there simply was no comparison.

'Ready to have fun?' he asked Bunta.

'Yep,' he replied, 'but hang on, someone else is coming with us tonight.'

Yuuichi was going to ask who when he saw Eikichi stepping out of the shop and locking the door after himself. He turned round and after acknowledging Yuuichi with a slight hand gesture, he looked at Bunta and said:

'I take you'll want to drive too.'

'Correct,' Bunta replied.

'Fine,' Eikichi said, 'I'll take the Bellett.'

'You're going to drive up Mt Akina with us?' Yuuichi asked trying, and failing, to hide his excitement.

'Well,' Eikichi said glancing at his car, 'I don't think it can fly yet so, yes, I guess I'll be driving with you two.'

'Cool!' Yuuichi said happily then, he said, 'Eikichi-san, can you please drive ahead of us? I'd love to…'

Eikichi looked at Yuuichi and, shaking his head in disappointment, he just walked towards the Isuzu.

'What did I say?' Yuuichi whispered to Bunta while they made their way to their own cars.

'Yuuichi,' Bunta said, 'did you think he'd let _you_ drive ahead of _him_ in Mt Akina? We'll be lucky if we make it to the top roughly at the same time he does.'

A few minutes later, Eikichi was pushing the Bellett up the mountain pass with Bunta following him reasonably easily while the poor Yuuichi struggled just to keep up with them. During the short time it took for them to reach the summit, he realised that he was badly out of practice, that his Capella was definitely getting too old and that driving with the two Fujiwara was twice as bad as driving with just one of them.

Yuuichi was so tired when he got out of his car that he nearly failed to notice that there were an enormous amount of cars parked in there. Not only every member of the Akina Firebolts were there, including their former leader Shinobu Aihara, but also Keiichi Tsuchiya, Makoto Watanabe from Mt Akagi, Shun Mitsuri from Mt Myogi and that guy from Tsuchizaka called Satoshi Iwase who, seeing Yuuichi, walked towards him and said:

'Hey, long time no see.'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'what a surprise!'

'I've actually stopped racing,' Satoshi explained, 'but I was told that it was a special occasion.'

'Yes it is,' Yuuichi said, 'so, what do you do now?'

'Nothing out of the ordinary,' the guy replied, 'but I did get married and my wife just had a little girl.'

'Really?' Yuuichi said.

'Yes,' Satoshi said, 'we've called her Kyoko and she's the cutest thing.'

Masashi came to the rescue at the right moment because Yuuichi was starting to feel sad about the way the conversation was heading. Even though what he'd told Fuka was true, he still could not help but feel jealous hearing about other couples having children.

'Hey,' the Akina Firebolts current leader said, 'come on, I have a quick announcement to make.'

They all gathered as close as possible to Masashi's red Fairlady Z and then waited to see what happened next.

'So,' Masashi started, 'even though we're gathered here today to celebrate the fact that Bunta is getting married _again_,' he nearly breathed that word so not many people heard it, 'I would like to announce that, after much deliberation and after getting Shinobu-san's consent, I've decided to dissolve the Akina Firebolts.'

'Why?' Bunta found himself asking.

'Because it's time,' Masashi explained, 'even though we still meet up more or less regularly, it's been a very long time since we raced seriously,' many of the Akina Firebolts members nodded their agreement, 'and, besides, it's not like we will stop being friends.'

'Of course not,' Shinobu said, 'it's only the team that's getting disbanded. Just look at me, I haven't lost touch with any of you guys and it's been years since my last race.'

'I'm thinking of quitting too,' Shun Mitsuri said, 'after all, I am getting too old for this.'

'Hey!' Keiichi exclaimed all of a sudden, 'this is supposed to be a party, isn't it?'

'Well said kid,' Eikichi said, 'what's with the long faces?'

'We're sorry,' Masashi apologised immediately, 'this _is_ a party so, let's get our cars out and have fun!'

'Hell yes!' they all shouted.

Soon enough, most of the racers and ex-racers present there started driving up and down the mountain, some trying to see if they had lost their touch, others getting confirmation of that fact while a few, like Bunta, were showing everyone else how one drove on Mt Akina.

'Eikichi-san,' Yuuichi said approaching the old man who was sipping a can of non-alcoholic beer while watching what went on in front of him.

'Yes?'

'Er…'

'What is it?' Eikichi asked.

'Well,' Yuuichi said, 'since it's kind of the last time we're all here gathered and…well…'

'I hope you don't want me to guess what you're trying to say,' Eikichi said with a hint of amusement.

'No, no,' Yuuichi hurried to say, 'it's just that the guys and I…well…we were thinking that you and Bunta have never raced each other, right?'

Eikichi looked at him while a frown appeared on his lined face.

'No, we've never raced,' he admitted.

'Okay,' Yuuichi said then, gathering all the courage he had, he asked, 'what would you…'

'No,' Eikichi cut him short, 'I'm not going to race against my nephew.'

'Why not?' Yuuichi could not help but to ask.

'I might destroy his self confidence,' Eikichi answered making Yuuichi do a double-take, 'he's very good,' the old man continued, 'but he still has a bit of room for improvement. Just don't tell him I said that, will you?'

'Of course,' an astonished Yuuichi said. He was going to walk away from the Bunta's uncle when, as an afterthought, he asked, 'could you please tell me what he needs to improve?'

'Experience,' Eikichi replied, 'right now, Bunta's doing what he needs to do to get it: he's racing in different environments, in different disciplines and that's allowing him to gather the elements which will make him the ultimate racer.'

'I see…'

'Right now,' Eikichi said, 'I don't really think he's got rivals on Mt Akina.'

'Other than you,' Yuuichi dared to say.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'but even that is only temporary. He's quickly catching up and very soon he'll have all the experience he needs, then, he'll be truly unbeatable.'

'Why don't you want me to tell him this?' Yuuichi asked.

'Because,' Eikichi said, 'like with everything else in his life, he's got to figure it out on his own. It's the best way to learn and he knows it.'

'I see,' Yuuichi repeated then, for some reason, he felt like bowing to Eikichi and say, 'thanks for telling me.'

'No problem,' Eikichi said, 'now go and have fun.'

'Yes, sir,' Yuuichi said smiling at the old man.

While he walked back to his Mazda, Yuuichi thought that it was little wonder Bunta was such a freaking good racer but for the first time he realised the reason why: not only he had the right genetic pool, but also, racing in different categories had made him gather the best out of all of them.

He really was becoming, as Eikichi had put it, the ultimate racer.

Two hours later, at nearly eleven o'clock in the evening, only the members of the no longer active Akina Firebolts team remained on top of the mountain pass and, following Masashi's instructions for the last time, they all lined up their cars, leaving Bunta's 2000GT in front of all of them.

Since Eikichi had left shortly after his conversation with Yuuichi, claiming that he was too old to be with a bunch of kids, the two cars which closed the line were the dark blue Mazda Capella and Keiichi's Nissan.

'Alright,' Masashi shouted from outside his Nissan, 'let's all drive down in formation.'

'YES!'

It was quite a sight seeing nearly twenty different cars driving altogether and, even though most of them would have let themselves be killed rather than to admit it, there were quite a few drivers who crossed what everyone there considered the downhill finish line with their eyes moist with tears.

'Stop crying, will you?' Bunta said to Yuuichi once they parked their cars outside the shop.

'I can't help it,' the man replied, 'it's just that…'

'I know,' Bunta said trying to be understanding.

'They'd been around for more than ten years,' Yuuichi explained unnecessarily, 'and now…'

'It kind of makes you feel old, doesn't it?'

'Oh!' Yuuichi exclaimed happily, 'you feel the same way, I knew you...'

'Don't be ridiculous,' Bunta interrupted him, 'I said it makes _you _feel old. I don't think I'll ever have that kind of problem.'

'No,' Yuuichi decided, 'you probably won't.'

'Now,' Bunta said, 'if you don't mind, I'm going to bed, it's going to be kind of busy tomorrow.'

The morning after, Yuuichi and Bunta were standing inside the registry office at exactly ten minutes to ten and unlike when he'd married Midori, Bunta looked quite relaxed but, at the same time, he was excited like he'd never seen his best friend before.

He was also wearing something infinitely less formal but, despite that, he looked good enough with a pair of dark linen trousers with a matching jacket and a simple white shirt underneath. He was wearing a tie but even that was a little loosened up.

'How do I look?' he asked Yuuichi.

'Like a groom,' Yuuichi replied honestly.

Bunta was going to reply with one of his usual smug remarks when his expression went from calm to astounded and, following the direction of his eyes, Yuuichi realised the reason of this sudden change: entering the room where they would sign the wedding registration certificate, he saw Kumiko, looking breathtakingly beautiful clad in a handmade red, golden and white kimono.

'Wow,' was all that Bunta managed to say.

Yuuichi smiled at his wife Fuka who was standing next to the bride dressed in a simple but cute light orange dress. Accompanying the two women, there was Eikichi wearing one of the few formal suits he owned. It was the old man who, offering his arm to Kumiko, said:

'Let's do this before you change your mind.'

Kumiko smiled at him while Bunta rolled his eyes.

The entire procedure lasted less than ten minutes and, as soon as the registry officer filed all the documents into a folder, he applied the official seals to the two copies of the marriage registration certificate and, keeping one of them, he handed the other one to Mr and Mrs Bunta Fujiwara and said:

'Congratulations, you're now man and wife.'

'May I kiss the bride?' Bunta asked the officer with a cheeky smile.

'If you wish,' the man replied.

Bunta didn't have to be told twice and, taking Kumiko's face with his two hands, he kissed his wife.

_To be continued…_


	76. Chapter Seventy Five

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy Five_

Having spent the first days of their honeymoon visiting the numerous sights offered by the Isa-Shima National Park, including the place where Kokichi Mikimoto had managed to produce the first cultured pearl in the world, newlyweds Bunta and Kumiko finally decided to take a break and spend the day at Futamigaura Beach.

'It's so beautiful,' Kumiko commented observing the calm sea.

'It is,' Bunta agreed, 'do you want to go in for a swim?' he then asked.

'Nope,' Kumiko replied, 'I'm happy here sitting with you, besides I don't want to get sunburnt.'

'Okay,' Bunta said.

The two of them snuggled closer under one of the huge umbrellas provided by the resort where they were staying. Bunta thought that the National Park was a great place to visit and, just then, he decided that from then on he and Kumiko would do road trips at least once a year.

'Bunta,' she said interrupting his train of thought.

'Yes?'

'I'm worried about Fuka-san,' she said.

'I know,' Bunta replied, 'me too.'

'I think she's lucky that Yuuichi-san is doing his best to support her,' she commented, 'but I also think that running away from the problem is not going to help solve it.'

'I agree with that too,' Bunta said, 'but that's not something we can help them with,' he added then, before she could speak, he continued, 'Yuuichi is smart enough to know that we're here if they need us but, to be honest, I think it's something they'll have to deal with themselves.'

'Yes,' Kumiko said, 'you're right.'

'Of course I am,' Bunta smiled.

'But it's such a pity,' Kumiko continued, 'Fuka-san would make such a great mother and Yuuichi-san is such a kind man that he'd be a wonderful father.'

'Unlike me?' Bunta teased her.

'No!' Kumiko exclaimed turning to look at her husband, 'you'll be a good father too, one day.'

'Maybe soon,' he said placing his hand onto her very flat tummy.

'No way,' Kumiko replied blushing furiously, 'at least, I don't think so…or, rather, it's too soon and…'

'Hey,' Bunta laughed, 'I was just teasing you. Don't worry about it, if it happens, it happens, if it doesn't…well…'

'It doesn't?' she tried.

'Exactly,' Bunta said hugging her a little tighter.

'I do want to have children though,' Kumiko said then, looking at the sea, she said, 'I know it's silly and way too early but I've even thought of what we could call them.'

'Really?' Bunta asked.

'Yeah,' she replied shyly, 'you must think I'm stupid.'

'No, I don't,' Bunta assured her, 'I'm curious though: which names have you come up with?'

'Well,' she said sounding a little bit more confident, 'I've always wanted to use the kanji for "sea" as part of the name, don't ask me why, I just like the way it looks and the stroke count is also appropriate to complement other kanji.'

'That's true,' Bunta considered then, he asked, 'so, what names do we have with that kanji?'

'Well,' Kumiko said, 'for a girl, there's Atsumi and Mayumi.'

'Fujiwara Atsumi?' Bunta said, 'it doesn't sound too bad,' he decided, 'and what about if it's a boy?'

'There's Takumi,' she replied.

'Takumi?' Bunta asked, he thought about it for a moment and then, he started laughing.

'What's wrong?' Kumiko asked him frowning.

'I don't know if you've realised this,' he replied, 'but the name Takumi contains the sound of the last kanji of my name and the first kanji of yours.'

'Oh,' Kumiko said, 'you're right! I didn't think about that.'

'Takumi,' Bunta repeated, 'it's a good name.'

'I think so too,' Kumiko said.

'Okay,' Bunta decided, 'if we have a girl first, we'll call her Atsumi and if it's a boy, we'll call him Takumi.'

'Agreed,' Kumiko said smiling.

'So,' Bunta said with what he hoped was a convincing tone of voice, 'shall we try and get things started?'

'What…' Kumiko started then seeing his expression made her eyes widen in shock, 'are you serious?'

He just laughed and, getting up from their towel, offered her his hand and said:

'Let's go.'

When forty eight hours later Bunta and Kumiko parked the 2000GT just outside the Fujiwara Tofu Shop, the first thing they noticed was that Yuuichi was there, talking to Eikichi both of them looking very serious. He found that weird and, climbing out of his car, he asked them:

'What's up?'

'Big trouble,' Yuuichi replied.

'They just got home,' Eikichi admonished him, 'let them get inside first.'

'What's wrong?' Kumiko asked him while getting one of her bags out of the car's trunk.

'Let's get inside,' Eikichi insisted.

Soon Bunta, his uncle and Yuuichi were sitting by the table while Kumiko busied herself in the kitchen preparing some refreshments. They had already decided to leave the unpacking for later since it appeared quite obvious that something bad had happened.

'So,' Bunta asked Yuuichi, 'what's wrong?'

'Is Fuka-san okay?' Kumiko asked while she set down onto the table four glasses containing lemonade.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, 'this has nothing to do with her. To be honest,' he continued, 'I'm surprised you haven't heard. I think it even made it to the sports newspaper.'

'What's wrong?' Bunta asked again losing his patience.

'Keiichi's license has been suspended,' Yuuichi explained.

'What?' Bunta asked, 'why?'

'The kid's been racing in Usui,' Eikichi explained, 'he was training to race you and someone from the Federation spotted him. It looks like they didn't appreciate having a Fuji Freshman Series entrée taking part in that sort of thing.'

'Oh no,' Bunta said.

'We were trying to decide if we could do something about it,' Yuuichi explained, 'I mean…maybe we could do some sort of official petition to get the suspension revoked or something like that.'

'I doubt that would help,' Bunta said.

'Then what can we do?' Yuuichi exclaimed, 'that kid's good, he's just made a silly mistake.'

'Did he ask you to help him?' Bunta asked.

'No,' Yuuichi replied, 'he didn't.

'Then I don't think we should intervene,' Bunta decided.

'But…'

'I'll call him,' Bunta said, 'and if he asks for help, we'll do something about it, if he doesn't, then we won't.'

'But…'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta interrupted him, 'if someone needs help, they should ask for it, in this kind of situations pride is useless and Keiichi is smart enough to know that.'

'That's right,' Eikichi agreed.

'Okay,' Yuuichi accepted, 'we'll stay out of it.'

'Good,' Bunta said, 'speaking of help, you're okay?'

It took Yuuichi a few moments to reply to that then, shrugging his shoulders, he said:

'Kind of.'

Bunta observed his best friend but, deciding to tackle one problem at a time, he drank a sip of lemonade, got up and went to get the phone. They saw him dialling Keiichi's home number and, after just a few instants, he said, 'hey kid, it's me.'

'Bunta?' Keiichi replied.

'Yes,' Bunta said, 'listen, I heard what happened.'

'Yeah,' Keiichi replied, 'I…it was very embarrassing. They called me and told me that that sort of racing was not tolerated by them and then I got a letter saying that my Federation License has been suspended for a month.'

'Oh,' Bunta said, 'just a month?'

'Yes,' Keiichi replied, 'I was lucky, it could have been much worse.'

'Yes,' Bunta agreed then, he said, 'are you okay with that?'

'Not really,' Keiichi said honestly, 'but I accept the punishment. I was stupid enough to get caught so I deserve it. Besides, if I tried fighting it, they might think I'm too much trouble and then my hopes of becoming a pro will vanish.'

'So,' Bunta said just to be clear, 'you don't want to do anything about it?'

'No,' Keiichi replied very seriously, 'but you know?'

'What?'

'I think that I won't do much street racing anymore,' Keiichi said.

'Well,' Bunta said, 'that's a given, right?'

'Yeah,' Keiichi replied, 'is just that it's too bad. I was really looking forward to racing you, you know, I'm getting quite good at drifting but I don't think I'll ever be as good as you.'

'Don't be stupid,' Bunta said gently and, for some reason that made Keiichi laugh.

'Oh well,' the guy said, 'I better go, my father's furious with me so he has me doing all sorts of chores.'

'Take care, Keiichi,' Bunta said.

'Yep,' he replied, 'I'll try and watch you at the Kyoto Rally, show them what you're made of, okay?'

'I will,' Bunta replied and then he hanged up. Then, turning round, he summarised the entire conversation with a simple, 'he's okay so let's not worry about it anymore. Yuuichi,' he continued while sitting down, 'did you do any research while I was gone?'

'Oh!' Yuuichi exclaimed, 'I'm so happy you've asked: I think I've finally found it.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked him.

'An RX-4,' Yuuichi replied smiling happily, 'I know it's been in production for a while but Masashi said that the parts aren't expensive and the new 13B engine has got decent enough reviews, plus it pollutes very little.'

'A rotary…'

'Yes,' Yuuichi said looking hopeful, 'what do you think?'

'Mmm.'

'It looks really good,' Yuuichi explained, 'they even have a dark blue one at the dealer now so if I hurry and buy it they could give it to me immediately and if I give them my Capella, I can easily afford it. I've already asked and they told me they'd be happy to let me take it out for a test drive.'

'A rotary, huh?' Bunta asked again.

'Y-yes,' an increasingly worried Yuuichi said, 'you don't think it's a good idea?'

'Yeah, of course I do,' Bunta finally said, 'I was just teasing you.'

'Oh Bunta!' Yuuichi complained, 'Eikichi-san, your nephew is too much!'

'And you realise that now?' the old man asked raising one of his thick eyebrows.

Kumiko laughed softly and, shaking her head, she got up and said:

'Bunta, if you're not too tired, why don't you go with Yuuichi-san and check that…whatever is called?'

'RX-4,' Bunta supplied.

'Yes, that,' Kumiko said, 'this way I'll be able to get things unpacked. You're leaving tomorrow for the Kyoto Rally so I also need to see if there are any clothes which need to be washed and...'

'Okay, okay,' Bunta said, 'I get it.'

'She's right,' Eikichi said, 'if you don't go now, you won't have another chance until next week and, by then, the dealer might have sold the unit he's after.'

'Oh please don't say that,' Yuuichi whimpered.

'Are you sure you don't mind if I leave you on your own?' Bunta asked his wife, 'we just came back from our honeymoon.'

'Don't worry,' she replied, 'and besides, Eikichi-san's here, I'm sure he'll be happy to help me unpack.'

'Of course I will,' Eikichi said, 'now, off you go. Kumi-chan and I are busy.'

Five minutes later, Bunta and Yuuichi were onboard the Capella on their way to the dealership owned by Tomoiki-san. The store was next door to Nitta-san's repairs shop and Bunta thought it would be a good chance to drop by and say hello to his former employer.

'So,' Bunta said while he and his best friend were stopped at a traffic light, 'how are you?'

Yuuichi looked at him for a short while, probably considering his options then, lowering his head a little, he spoke with a dejected tone of voice when he said:

'I'm not sure.'

'Where's is Fuka?' Bunta asked him.

'She's out shopping with a friend,' he replied.

'Is she okay?'

'No,' Yuuichi replied. At the green light, he restarted the car and it wasn't until they were forced to stop again that he said, 'you know, it scared me shitless when she said she wanted us to get divorced.'

'She what?'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'I think I convinced her that it was a horrible idea but…'

'You're still worried,' Bunta decided.

'Yes,' he confirmed, 'we've had our fights, I mean, which married couple doesn't ever argue? But she never ever mentioned wanting a divorce. I know how she feels about not being able to have children but I just…'

'How do you feel?' Bunta asked him as gently as he could.

'Not so good,' Yuuichi said, 'I would love to have a kid or two and you know, during your stag night, I saw that Iwase guy and he told me that he's had a baby girl…I felt so jealous of him.'

'That's understandable,' Bunta said.

'Yes,' Yuuichi agreed, 'but you know I would always choose Fuka over anything else, including having kids.'

'Naturally,' Bunta said.

'She said she wants to get a job,' Yuuichi commented while taking a left-hand turn.

'That's a good idea,' Bunta replied and, before his best friend could complain, he said, 'it is a very good idea. Yuuichi, I know how you feel about that but, Fuka is an educated woman, she studied hard for her secretarial certificate, I think that if she gets a job, she'll be much happier and probably less inclined to want a divorce.'

'Yeah…but…'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta said, 'you know I've never cared much about conventions but if there's something which I think it's idiotic is having women at home when they could be doing much more with their lives. I'm not saying that being a housewife is bad but look at my own mother: she had a job even though she was married and she was very happy.'

'Yeah but…'

'Yuuichi,' he insisted, 'no one will think less of you because your wife works. And if any retarded person does, it's their own problem. I think that Fuka's happiness is a whole lot more important than what people think, don't you agree?'

'Of course I do,' Yuuichi said.

'Then,' Bunta concluded, 'let her get a job and who knows, with the extra money she'll get maybe you'll be able to get a second car for herself, she's got her driving license, doesn't she?'

'Yes, she does,' Yuuichi confirmed.

'There you go,' Bunta said.

'What about Kumiko-chan?' Yuuichi asked.

'What about her?' Bunta said.

'When is she taking her test?' Yuuichi asked.

'Oh,' Bunta said, 'next week, she's so nervous about it that's almost funny.'

'Don't be cruel,' Yuuichi warned him, 'not everyone was born with your skills.'

'She's not bad,' he admitted, 'but I just love teasing her about it whenever she drives the 2000GT.'

'You've let her drive your car?' an astonished Yuuichi asked.

'Of course,' Bunta said, 'what do you think we used for her driving lessons?'

'And she's okay driving that monster?' Yuuichi asked looking even more surprised.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'she's alright. With a bit of practice she might get half-way decent soon.'

Yuuichi didn't say anything to that, instead, he parked his Mazda outside Tomoiki's store while he thought that if Bunta said that about Kumiko's driving, she had to be more than half-way decent. But of course, that wasn't surprising having had Bunta Fujiwara as her driving instructor.

Soon enough, the two of them were onboard yet another Mazda driving up Mt Akina but, this time, it was a brand new RX-4 model which still had the plastic covers everywhere. Bunta was behind the wheel and looked set on testing the car's limits.

'What do you think?' a slightly frightened Yuuichi asked.

'Mmm…'

'Is that a bad "mmm" or a good one?' Yuuichi asked.

'I don't know yet,' Bunta replied, 'let me try something.'

Before Yuuichi could protest, Bunta accelerated all of a sudden and, entering a high speed right hand corner, he got the car across the length of the road and let it slide all the way trough the turn. Meanwhile, for some bizarre reason, Bunta decided to look at the rear view mirror.

'B-bunta…'

'Yes?'

'C-can y-you p-please…'

'Oh that was fun,' Bunta said and that made Yuuichi realise that they had already cleared the corner then, before he had the time to recover, he felt the car getting even faster, 'let's see what happens if I do this.'

With horror, Yuuichi saw that his best friend removed first one hand and then the other all the while they entered a sharp left-hander while driving at over one hundred kilometres an hour.

'BUNTA!'

'What?' he asked so innocently that Yuuichi lost his will to speak. Instead, he started praying that they would get the car back in one piece and that his heart would not give up on him. One thing was clear though, asking Bunta to test drive the RX-4 had been a terrible, terrible idea.

About an hour later, a still more or less conscious Yuuichi became the proud owner of a dark blue Mazda RX-4 and, with tears in his eyes, he said goodbye to his beloved Mazda Capella, hoping that the car which had accompanied him throughout the first years of his youth would find an owner who would treat it kindly.

'You're okay?' Bunta had the cheek to ask while they drove the new car back to the Fujiwara Tofu Shop.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi complained, 'but not thanks to you.'

'Oh come on,' Bunta said, 'it wasn't that bad.'

'No, you're right,' Yuuichi agreed, 'it was worse.'

Bunta just grinned in the way he knew Yuuichi found insufferable. Teasing his best friend was a lot of fun and he hoped that he would soon find another excuse to take him up Mt Akina for there were very few things he enjoyed more than seeing Yuuichi's terrified expression.

The day after, Bunta met with Shin at the train station so that they could travel to Kyoto by train. Bunta was still feeling sad that he'd had to leave Kumiko behind but, as she reminded him, she was going to be with Eikichi so it wasn't as though as she was alone.

'So,' Shin said, 'how is married life?'

'Not bad,' Bunta replied.

'Cool,' Shin said, 'are you still going to carry out the plan to catch whoever is sabotaging our car?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied.

'What are you going to do?' Shin asked him.

'You'll see,' was Bunta's mysterious reply.

Since it was clear he would not get any information from his team mate, Shin decided to spend the rest of the trip reading a book in English he'd bought at the station. Meanwhile, Bunta stared out of the window finding it interesting that the Shinkansen travelled a lot faster than what his 2000GT could manage.

Thanks to that, within just a few hours, he and Shin met with the rest of the team at the New Miyako Hotel right across the road in front of Kyoto Central Station. Once there, they all went to their rooms to get some rest before they would all go to the pre-race meeting at the hotel's main conference room.

'Hide-san,' Bunta said while all the drivers and technical staff gathered there, 'after the meeting I'd like to have a quick word with you about how we're going to…deal with our problem.'

'Sure,' the team manager said.

Soon enough, the group of JFA officials stepped into the room and, using a large map pinned onto a presentation board, started explaining where the different sectors were and the order in which the special stages had to be completed.

Since the organisation's headquarters were in the middle of the city, they had the parc ferme installed in the main parking area of the railway station, from there, each morning of the race the drivers would collect their cars so that they could then drive to the city's outskirts where the special stages would take place.

'That should make things easier for your plan,' Hide-san commented.

'Yep,' Bunta agreed.

Shin didn't say anything to that and when later on that day they took the Celica to drive it to the Kiyosaka Pass, he tried to observe the car to see if there was anything which would help him figure out what Bunta intended to do with it.

'You won't see it,' Bunta said.

'What?' Shin said.

'What you're looking for,' Bunta replied, 'it's not here anyway.'

'What are you going to do?' Shin tried again.

'It's a surprise,' Bunta replied, 'you'll love it, I'm sure of it.'

'If you say so,' Shin said then, glancing over his shoulder, he saw the electric blue Subaru Leone driven by Murakami Ryu, 'you still think he's involved, don't you?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'Not that I feel like defending him,' Shin said, 'but I've been thinking for a long time about this and I still can't see the reason why Murakami would do something like that. I mean, he's good enough to win without resorting to cheap tricks.'

'I know that too,' Bunta said.

'Then why are you so suspicious of him?' Shin asked.

'I don't know,' Bunta said, 'but we'll soon find out, if anyone tries to do anything to our car, we'll know tomorrow morning and then, we'll just take it from there.'

'Alright,' Shin accepted.

'Now,' Bunta continued, 'how many special stages did we have to complete today?'

'Just the one at Kiyosaka,' Shin informed him, 'but after that we'll have the Technical Check so it will take a while before we can head back to the hotel, which is a pity since I'm really looking forward to visiting Gion.'

'Is it your first time in Kyoto?' Bunta asked him.

'Yep,' Shin replied, 'and I can't wait to see the maiko.'

'What happened to that check in girl?' Bunta asked curiously.

'Oh,' Shin replied, 'we broke up last week.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' Bunta said.

'I'm not,' Shin countered, 'she wanted to get married.'

'How horrible of her,' Bunta commented sarcastically.

'I can't settle down just yet,' Shin said seriously, 'I'm too used to being able to move around freely and I wouldn't be able to do that if I got married. The only commitment I'm prepared to make right now is to you and this team.'

'That's fair enough,' Bunta decided.

'Isn't it?' Shin said.

At long last, they arrived at the base of the Kiyosaka Pass, a very twisted road just off Route 423 where the organisation had set up the starting line. There would only be three checkpoints in the less than thirty kilometres long road and, according to the racebook, they had nineteen and a half minutes to complete the stage.

'Why are they giving it so much time?' Bunta asked his co-pilot.

'No idea,' Shin replied shrugging his shoulders.

The two of them waited for their turn and, after getting the clearance from the JFA official, they took off. It only took them a few corners to figure out the reason why the organisation had decided to allocate such a long time to this first stage:

The road was badly kept, meaning that the tarmac was, at best, highly abrasive which didn't help the tyres much considering how hot it still was. What was worse was that the corners were designed in such a way that it took every bit of Shin's skills to find a way that would get them as far away as possible from the too many cliffs the pass had.

Bunta didn't even think of trying to come up with his own lines and, instead, he relied entirely on what Shin said. He concentrated all his energy on keeping the car steady enough, distributing the weight the best way he could so that the poor tyres wouldn't suffer more than they already did.

'At the next, slow down and go in second,' Shin advised.

'Okay,' Bunta replied, 'what's the time?'

'We've got four minutes left,' Shin replied.

'Can we make it?' Bunta asked while punching the shift into second gear.

'Barely,' Shin said, 'we need to hurry up a bit.'

'No pressure, huh?' Bunta replied trying to laugh it off.

'None at all,' Shin agreed grinning briefly. He then got back to his concentrated mode and said, 'there's an S right ahead and it looks like it's downhill, watch your braking points, we don't want the pads to overheat.'

'Yes boss,' Bunta joked.

'Oh I like it when you call me that!' Shin replied laughing.

'You two,' Hide-san's voice said over the radio, 'quit the chatter.'

Shin and Bunta glanced at each other very briefly before they let out a silent chuckle. In the end, and despite their slightly-less-than-professional attitude, they managed to make it to the top of the pass with only one second of difference between their time and the official one.

'Not too bad,' Shin said.

'Not bad at all,' Bunta agreed.

Their team manager just shook his head as if he had just realised just how much trouble those two were but, seeing that they were getting their job done in a most proficient way, he decided to let it pass. That same evening, after Shin announced he was going out, he accompanied Bunta to the parc ferme before they closed it for the night.

'Are you sure we'll catch them like this?' the old man asked.

'I hope so,' Bunta replied then, after completing his work, he looked around to see if anyone had seen them. No one was there so he smiled at his team manager and said, 'we'll soon find out.'

The two of them walked away from the Celica and, once they got back into their hotel, Bunta announced that he was going to call home and go to bed. Hide-san bade him goodnight and then he too went to his room so that he could get the rest his old body needed.

The morning after, Bunta woke up to the ring of his room's phone. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was three o'clock in the morning and sleepily, he grabbed the phone's receiver and said:

'Hello?'

'Fujiwara,' Hide-san's voice said, 'come downstairs, your trick worked.'

'Really?' he asked now fully awake.

'Yes,' Hide-san replied, 'and you'll never believe who we've got in here.'

_To be continued…_


	77. Chapter Seventy Six

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy Six_

Bunta jumped out of bed, got dressed and left his room within two minutes of receiving Hide-san's call and, hoping the team manager had also warned Shin about what was going on, he raced towards the stairs deciding that it'd be faster going on foot rather than waiting for one of the four elevators.

Once he got to the hotel's hall, he found Akira on his own looking a little lost.

'Where's Hide-san?' he asked the mechanic.

'In there,' the young man replied, 'he's talking to the police and the JFA officials.'

'The police?' Bunta asked raising his eyebrows, 'isn't that a bit exaggerated?'

Akira was going to reply to that when Shin showed up looking rather upset about something. The co-pilot walked towards them and, with an angry scowl on his otherwise handsome face, he barked more than said:

'This better be good.'

'Hey,' Bunta said a tad defensively, 'I was woken up too, okay?'

'Who said I was sleeping?' Shin asked him giving Bunta a knowing look.

'Ah,' Bunta realised, he then scratched his cheek and said, 'sorry.'

'Like I said,' Shin repeated, 'this better be good.'

Fifteen minutes later, Hide-san walked out of the room where the police had been talking to him. He was followed by two senior JFA officials as well as a couple of policemen who were smiling as though as they had just solved a very complicated case. One of them, seeing Bunta, looked at Hide-san and said:

'Is that him?'

'Yes,' Hide-san said.

Then something weird happened: the two policemen walked towards Bunta and both of them patted him on his shoulders at the same time then, the one who had spoken earlier smiled at him and asked:

'Your name is Fujiwara Bunta, correct?'

'Er…yes,' Bunta hesitated hoping that he wasn't going to get arrested.

'Fujiwara-san,' the policeman said, 'you've just helped us solve a very complicated case. We've been after this gang for a long time and it's mainly thanks to what you did that made us catch one of their members.'

'To be perfectly honest,' one of the JFA officials commented, 'we would have preferred if you hadn't wired that generator to the car since you could have caused some serious damage to our security staff but, since it did help catch a criminal so, we'll overlook it this time.'

'Okay,' Shin said, 'I'm seriously lost and, as the navigator that I am, that's just too frustrating so, can someone please tell me what's going on or do we have to play guess-games all night long?'

'Yes, I'd like to know too,' Bunta agreed.

'Fujiwara,' Hide-san said, 'the one who tampered with our car in Hokkaido and who was trying to tamper with our car here is a member of the yakuza, they've been running an illegal gambling business and they tried to take us out of the race so that they could favour the betting odds.'

'Oh,' Shin gasped, 'wow.'

'Yes,' Hide-san said, 'when that man tried to touch the Celica, he suffered a very bad electroshock, it was easy for the security staff to carry him here while he was still unconscious. They called me only when the guy came to and the police got a confession from him.'

'We're very grateful for your help,' the other JFA official said talking to Hide-san, 'it would have been a disaster for the season if other cars had been tampered with, not to mention how dangerous it would be for the drivers.'

'Well kid,' the older policeman said, 'you've got our gratitude too, like my colleague said, we've been after this band for a long time and it's a really good thing we've caught them in the act, the prosecutor will have a very easy job thanks to you.'

'You're welcome,' Bunta said trying not to sound smug.

'Now,' Hide-san said, 'my team really needs to get some sleep, we have a very early start tomorrow.'

'Of course,' the JFA official said, 'well, thanks again.'

'No problem,' Hide-san replied and talking to his team, he said, 'everyone off to bed,' then, looking at Bunta and Shin, he added, 'especially you two.'

The two men looked at each other and, shaking their heads at the same time, they walked back towards the elevator followed by Akira and the other three mechanics who looked so excited about what had just happened that it was unlikely they'd get much sleep at all.

'It looks like you were wrong,' Shin commented while they went up to their floor.

'Yeah,' Bunta said then, in an attempt to salvage his ego, he added, 'there's a first time for everything.'

'To be fair,' Shin said, 'I too thought that it was someone from inside. I never thought of some criminal gang or anything like that.'

'Well,' Bunta said, 'if you had that much imagination you wouldn't be a navigator, you'd be a writer.'

'True that,' Shin laughed.

'Now,' Bunta said stepping out of the elevator, 'unlike someone I know, I'm going to get some _sleep_.'

Shin didn't even grace that comment with a reply, instead, he limited himself with giving Bunta a superior look before he started walking back to the room where, no doubt, a random local beauty waited for him. Bunta found it highly amusing, in a disturbing sort of way.

Less than two hours later, Bunta was awake again and decided to take a long shower so that he would be fresh enough for the day he had ahead of himself. He got dressed a lot more slowly than he'd done when Hide-san called him, taking his time to put on his racing suit and the light jacket he'd need considering how it was only five o'clock in the morning.

'Hey,' he said to Shin once they met up at the breakfast table, 'I didn't think we'd see you here.'

'Why not?' Shin asked him.

'I don't know,' Bunta replied, 'I thought you'd order room service…for two.'

'Nah,' Shin said, 'she's still sleeping. Hopefully she'll go back to her room sometime during the day.'

'Her room?' Bunta asked, 'she's a guest here?'

'I think so,' Shin replied, 'to be honest, I don't think I remember what her name is.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'somehow I wish I hadn't asked…'

Shin let out a chuckle which turned into a serious face when, right at that moment, they saw Murakami and his co-pilot Nishimoto walk into the room followed by the their team's technical staff. He then looked at Bunta who, getting up from his chair walked towards Murakami.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'I know you probably won't understand, but I'm sorry about how I behaved with you during the last race. I had some stupid idea which turned out to be wrong so, I hope we can have a fresh start.'

Shin could not believe his ears.

'Okay,' a confused Murakami said, 'you're right, I don't really understand but it's fine by me.'

'Good,' Bunta said.

'Ryu?' Nishimoto said, 'what's all of this about?'

'It doesn't matter,' Murakami told him, 'I'm happy to see that Tetsu was right after all.'

The Subaru racer walked away from Bunta forcing Nishimoto and their technical staff to follow him. Only then, Shin got up from the table and, looking at his team mate with an awed expression on his face, he said:

'You surely are full of surprises.'

'Why?' Bunta asked him.

'Because I didn't think you would apologise to him,' Shin replied, 'he didn't even know what you were accusing him of, yet you went to him and apologised. You're either saint-material or the craziest, bravest son of a bitch in history.'

'Do I get a third choice?' Bunta ventured.

Shin laughed at that and, patting him on his shoulder, he said:

'Let's get some breakfast St Bunta.'

An hour later, Bunta had the Celica in position to start the first special stage of the day, one which covered the whole length of the old road which connected Kyoto with the neighbouring town of Kameoka. Bunta was looking forward to it because the speed limit for this sector had been set to one hundred and ten kilometres, meaning that he could, at long last, push the car a little.

'Ready?' he asked Shin who was busy sorting out his papers.

'Yes,' he replied, 'there are only three major corners along the way but we'll have to be very careful with the railway intersections, there are six of them. It's a good thing it's not raining because wet rail tracks don't make good friends with our tyres.'

'Got it,' Bunta said.

A few moments later, they left the busy Kyoto streets behind and found themselves driving along a very old but well kept road. Bunta had to repress the will to floor the accelerator seeing such a long straight right in front of him and soon he was grateful he did.

'Oh shit,' he said when the Celica crossed the first of the railway intersections.

'I told you,' Shin said, 'lower to third and keep to your left.'

Bunta obeyed and soon enough, they found the first of the wide corners Shin had seen on the map. The right-hand turn looked fairly easy from afar but, as he entered it, he noticed that the road was slightly tilted forming a slight bank which managed to mess up with whichever line one could come up with.

'Slowly veer inwards,' Shin told him.

He did that and that made the car feel like it was going downhill, sending it out of the corner so much faster than it would have done otherwise. Bunta once again was grateful of Shin's skills when it came to figuring out the best way to adjust Bunta's driving to suit the road's conditions.

'We have another railway intersection coming now,' Shin said.

This time Bunta prepared himself and, slowing down a bit, he made sure the Celica's suspensions didn't suffer all that much when passing over the four strips of metal which covered the road. He let out a short breath and pressed the accelerator again so that they could make it to the following corner, a sharp left-hander.

'Oh,' Shin said, 'it's the same as earlier.'

Bunta saw that the was slightly banked at that corner too and it made him wonder if those people had ever heard of using a level when building roads. In any case, being ready for it, Bunta entered the turn keeping to his right and then he veered inside without having to be told by Shin.

'Once again,' the co-pilot said, 'I feel useless.'

'Be quiet and tell me where the next intersection is,' Bunta said sounding half amused.

'Right ahead, slow down now,' Shin replied.

Five minutes and thirty two seconds later, the Celica crossed the stage's finish line and, through the radio, Hide-san informed them that unless Murakami did a lot better than they had, the were once again on top of the timing scoreboards.

'Good job,' the team manager said.

'Thanks,' Bunta replied smiling happily then, looking at Shin, he said, 'where do we have to go next?'

The co-piltot checked his racebook and, shaking his head, he glanced back at his team mate and said:

'You're going to love this.'

'Why?'

'We're off to Mt Ponpon,' Shin said with a smile.

'Mt-what-now?' Bunta asked him with an incredulous look on his face, 'you're serious?'

'Oh yes,' Shin said obviously enjoying himself, 'I would love to meet the sick person who came up with that poor mountain's name.'

'Me too,' Bunta agreed.

Following the itinerary, they covered the special stage at Mt Ponpon's pass, a short one point three kilometre one along a dirt road and then they got back to the Kiyosaka Pass where according to Shin's racebook, they would have to cover twice, one in reverse order, before they could head to the refuelling area.

'We need to do something to those suspensions,' Shin commented.

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed, 'that pass is going to kill them, we still have to drive on it tomorrow, right?'

'Yes,' Shin replied, 'it's the final stage of the race,' he explained.

'Great,' Bunta commented with feigned enthusiasm.

They finally got to the Service Area located near the Noma Pass and, just after they found where their team had set up their provisional workshop, Bunta climbed out of the car and, without saying anything to anyone, went to grab one of the toolboxes when Akira said:

'Oi, what do you think you're doing?'

'We've got to adjust those suspensions,' Bunta explained, 'I know exactly what needs to be done but it'll take too long if I have to explain it to you.'

'But…'

'Let him do it,' Hide-san said.

'Shin,' Bunta just said. The co-pilot nodded and, two seconds later, the two team mates busied themselves with the car's settings, hoping the Noma Pass would prove to be a good testing ground to see if their solution would work on Kiyosaka too.

'Okay,' Hide-san said ten minutes later once Bunta and Shin finished with their work, 'now let the guys change the tyres for you and do the rest of their work or we'll be paying them just to watch you do all the work.'

'Fine,' Bunta said tiredly, he then grabbed a towel, cleaned himself and used up that chance to get something to drink. Shin meanwhile sat down on a nearby chair placing a wet towel on top of his head so that he would get some much needed refreshment.

'It's hot today,' he complained when he had to put the helmet back on.

'They're predicting rain tomorrow,' Hide-san announced.

'You're joking,' the co-pilot exclaimed.

'Shin,' Bunta said, 'we still have a re-run on the road to Kameoka, don't we?'

'Yes,' Shin replied, 'it's tomorrow's second stage. Things are going to be interesting...'

'They will be,' Bunta agreed.

It turned out that the Noma Pass special stage was an easy one assigned to give both the cars and the drivers a rest after the gruelling Kiyosaka Pass. Bunta felt bad that he couldn't fully test the modifications he'd applied to the car but he could tell the car was even more stable than it had been earlier.

'It'll be fine,' Shin said once they were finally allowed to drive back to Kyoto.

'I know,' Bunta said.

'We're first again,' Shin informed him, 'I can't believe that we're getting such good results already. It usually takes a while for a circuit racer to get used to rallying but, just looking at you, it seems like you've done nothing else your whole life. It's a bit scary, you know?'

Bunta just smiled and scratched his cheek.

'At any rate,' Shin continued, 'I'm seriously worried about the rain tomorrow, we'll have to be very careful with those rail tracks, not to mention that all the holes in Kiyosaka will become puddles which will make it difficult for us to decide which line is safest.'

'We'll be fine, right?' Bunta asked him and Shin nodded.

The next day, just as Hide-san had promised, Kyoto woke up under a heavy curtain of rain which was good news in terms of temperature but, just as Shin had predicted, it made things very difficult to the few crazy rally drivers set on driving on roads that not even the locals seemed to like.

Bunta and Shin's Celica was once again in position at the bottom of the Kiyosaka pass, ready to start the first run of the two which would close the race. The co-pilot was oddly silent while they waited for the JFA official to give them the starting signal and that made Bunta say:

'You're okay?'

'Yeah,' Shin replied distractedly, 'I'm thinking.'

'Ah,' Bunta said, a small smile forming on his lips. He wanted to say something but looking at his team mate he saw that the guy was studying the map, using his pen to mark some of the spots of the road they had ahead of him then, after a bit, he said:

'Okay, I think I got them all.'

'What were you doing?' Bunta asked him.

'I was trying to remember where all the holes are so that we can avoid them,' Shin said.

Bunta felt his head jerk up towards him and for the briefest instant, he thought his team mate was kidding but, seeing Shin's concentrated expression made him discard the idea. He then nodded and looked back ahead just in time to see the JFA official's signal.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'let's do this.'

Shin soon started a really long series of instructions, trying to make sure Bunta got them with enough time to apply them correctly. Meanwhile, Bunta was so busy complying with those orders that he didn't even notice that the water which filled the numerous holes on the road was so grey that it could easily be mistaken as part of the tarmac.

That, probably, was what Shin feared the most and the reason why the co-pilot had made such a huge mental effort to memorise the position of the biggest depressions on the ground so that they would not get one of the tyres into them. Bunta only appreciated all of that when, after covering the pass for the first time, he stopped and did some thinking.

'You're scary, did you know that?' he said to Shin.

'Look who's talking,' the co-pilot replied.

While they followed the road marked by the organisation which would take them back to Kiyosaka's pass for the start of the final stage, they asked Hide-san to tell them the current standings. It turned out that, contrary to what Bunta expected, Murakami's Subaru was only fourth. There was a Mazda Cosmos in third place and a Datsun Violet driven by some guy called Orioka which was currently a couple of seconds behind their Celica.

'We need to nail this one,' Bunta decided.

'Yeah,' Shin agreed.

Waiting once again for the starting signal, the two men focused all their energy on the task at hand. They covered the first half of the pass within the pre-established time when, all of a sudden, the rain became so heavy that they no longer could see the road.

'Crap,' Bunta breathed, 'Shin?'

'We've got a right hand turn coming up,' he announced.

'Ok-,' Bunta never finished the word for, right at that moment, he felt one of the tyres get into one of the many holes present on the pass. That made the car lower brusquely and then it got sent upwards, making the other three tires lose all traction.

'Shit,' he heard Shin say but Bunta was too busy trying to bring the car back under his control. He knew that they had probably wasted quite a few precious seconds but he also knew that if they stopped now all the efforts they had made during the three-day long race would be rendered useless.

'Fujiwara?' they heard Hide-san's voice say.

'Not now,' Shin nearly cried, 'we're busy.'

Bunta fought with the car's steering wheel and the shifter, re-adjusting the pressure on the pedals several times until, at long last, the Celica started behaving the way he wanted. He then kept on driving down while Shin did his best to catch up to where they were.

'That,' Bunta said once they were back on track, 'was stupid.'

'Yes,' Shin agreed wholeheartedly.

'You know what?' Bunta asked and without waiting for a reply, he said, 'I'm going to write to the Kyoto City Council so that they do something about this road. There's no way normal people can drive up this pass.'

'Hey,' Shin said, 'are you saying we aren't normal?'

'Do you need to ask?' Bunta countered, 'we're here, aren't we?'

'Fair point,' Shin admitted.

In the end and despite their best efforts, Bunta and Shin's Celica finished third overall but at least they had the satisfaction of knowing that Murakami had not managed to get passed fourth. Hide-san was happy enough with a podium finish so Bunta tried to accept the defeat the best way he could but was only glad when, after five days being away, he finally got back home.

'You look tired,' Eikichi commented when he saw him.

'You too,' Bunta retorted, 'what have you been doing?'

'Nothing,' Eikichi replied all-too-quickly.

'Kumiko?' he asked his wife.

'You really do look tired,' Kumiko said, 'you should get a bath and some sleep.'

Deciding that he really was too tired and that an argument against both his wife and his uncle was a lost cause to begin with, he forced himself to ignore the whole thing and, climbing up the stairs, he removed his clothes in his and Kumiko's bedroom then, throwing his yukata on, he went to the bathroom to take a long bath. He would try and find out what those two had been doing behind his back some other time.

The morning after, Bunta woke up to find himself alone in bed but that wasn't what he found strange. What was weird was that it was really late. Checking the clock, he saw that it was nearly ten o'clock in the morning. He then remembered something rather important which made him jump out of bed.

'Crap,' he said while trying to get dressed.

He ran downstairs as fast as he could only to find Eikichi and Yuuichi there, enjoying a freshly made cup of tea while they watched some morning TV show looking like they had absolutely nothing better to do. Eikichi saw him there and said:

'Good morning.'

'Eikichi,' Bunta said, 'where's Kumiko?'

'She left half an hour ago,' he informed him.

'What?' Bunta said, 'I was supposed to take her to her driving test,' he added sounding rather miserable.

'We know,' Yuuichi said, 'but don't worry, Fuka went with her.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'Don't ask me,' Yuuichi said, 'Kumiko-chan said she didn't want you or Eikichi-san to go with her, she said she would get even more nervous if you two were there so Fuka accompanied her instead.'

'Oh…'

'She'll be fine,' Eikichi said.

'How do you…' Bunta stared then, noticing the way his uncle was smiling, he asked, 'did you let her drive the Bellett?'

'Of course not,' Eikichi replied.

'She's driven my RX4,' Yuuichi explained, 'we spent the past few days making sure she felt confident driving different cars and Eikichi-san gave her a few tips so that the instructor would see that she knows what she's doing.'

'You did?' Bunta asked his uncle looking astounded.

'Yes,' Eikichi replied still smiling.

'But you've _never_ helped _me_,' Bunta pointed out.

'Oh,' Eikichi said, 'that's not true, I have taught you a lot more stuff than I have taught her. After all, she only wanted to get her driving license, not become a professional racer, so she only needed a few pointers.'

Bunta didn't know what to say to that so, after taking an empty cup from the kitchen, he went back to the living room, poured some tea and watched TV with Eikichi and Yuuichi while they waited for Kumiko and Fuka to get back home.

Nearly an hour later, the TV was off and Yuuichi was playing cards with Bunta while Eikichi was reading the newspaper when the three men heard a couple of feminine voices coming from the shop's entrance and, by judging by what little they could make up of the conversation, it looked like Fuka was trying to make Kumiko feel better about something.

Bunta forced himself to wait until his wife got to the living room when, seeing her sad face made him get up from the table. He then placed his hands onto her small shoulders as kindly as possible then, using what he hoped wasn't a patronising tone of voice, he said:

'It's okay, you'll pass next time, I promise you.'

'But…'

'She did her best,' Fuka assured them, 'it was that instructor, he looked like a nasty piece of work.'

'That happens sometimes,' Yuuichi commented, 'but you mustn't feel bad about it, you know, some of those so-called instructors are just frustrated people who weren't good enough to become professional drivers.'

'Yeah…'

'Kumi-chan,' Eikichi then said, 'look at me,' he ordered.

Bunta observed his wife look at his uncle and, for some bizarre reason, the old man smiled at her in a way which made it look like he'd caught her doing something naughty and had found it rather amusing. Eikichi then said:

'Congratulations, Kumi-chan.'

'Thanks,' Kumiko said. She smiled too and, out of one of her pockets, she produced a small plastic card, 'I passed! It was so easy that I don't even understand the reason why I was so nervous about it.'

'Then…' Bunta started.

'It was my idea,' Fuka said smiling, 'I really wanted to see what would happen if you thought she'd failed.'

'What?' Yuuichi exclaimed.

'I'm sorry,' Kumiko said to her husband, 'you looked so cute earlier, I wish I had taken a picture.'

'Kumiko!' a very embarrassed Bunta said.

'Please forgive me,' the girl said with a small smile, 'look,' she said placing her new driving license in front of him, 'its all thanks to you. And Yuuichi-san and Fuka-san and, of course, Eikichi-san. I seriously would have never passed if you all hadn't helped me so much.'

'Kumiko,' Fuka said, 'I have to admit that you've surprised me, I didn't think you'd be so good.'

'What are you talking about?' Bunta asked her, 'I taught her myself.'

'What are _you _talking about?' Fuka interrupted him, 'I was talking about the fact that I didn't think she'd be able to pull the prank. I'm impressed,' she said then, hooking her arm with the younger woman, she said, 'I think we should do this more often.'

'Oh no,' Yuuichi said.

'No way,' Bunta agreed.

The two women laughed out loud before they headed towards the kitchen so that they could prepare some more iced tea. Back in the living room, the two husbands looked at each other and, shaking their heads at the same time, they said:

'Our wives are too cruel.'

Eikichi just smiled in a very fatherly way.

_To be continued…_


	78. Chapter Seventy Seven

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy Seven_

Bunta waited until the end of August to make the phone call which would put an end to his street racing career. At twenty four years of age and having a job which actually paid him to race, there was very little point for him to continue racing on the streets, no matter how much he liked it.

'Hello?' he heard Kogashiwa's voice over the line.

'Hey,' Bunta replied, 'it's me.'

'Oh,' Kogashiwa said, 'about time you called!' he added dryly.

'Yeah,' Bunta continued, 'I've been…'

'Busy my foot,' Kogashiwa interrupted him, 'but anyway, I'll pretend that you were. Now, when are we meeting up?'

Geez he sounded eager, Bunta thought trying to repress a chuckle.

'Saturday, ten pm,' he said instead.

'This Saturday?' Kogashiwa asked him sounding a tad surprised.

'If you're free,' Bunta ventured. The other guy remained quiet for a short while then, he pictured Kogashiwa nodding to himself and then say:

'Okay, Saturday it is.'

'Good,' Bunta said, 'er…'

'What is it?' Kogashiwa asked.

'Nothing,' Bunta replied, 'just that…are you sure you want to race in Akina, I mean, we could go to your…'

'No,' Kogashiwa interrpted him, 'I said this before, I must beat you in Akina.'

'Okay,' Bunta replied, 'have it your way then.'

'As always Fujiwara, as always,' Kogashiwa said then, he hanged up without so much as a "have a good evening", that made Bunta stare at the phone's receiver for a little before he replaced it onto its cradle.

'Who was that?' he heard Eikichi ask him.

'Kogashiwa,' Bunta replied, he then joined his uncle in the shop's working area and was about to start helping him there when he noticed that the old man was looking at him in the sort of inquisitive way which made Bunta feel like a five year old, 'what?' he ended up asking him.

'So,' Eikichi started slowly, 'you two are going to race.'

'Er…'

'Not that I disapprove or that I think I have a say in the matter,' Eikichi said, 'but I want you to remember what happened to that Tsuchiya kid. You two are professionals now and street racing, while it's a lot of fun and often even more challenging than any other kind of racing, it's illegal and can get you in trouble.'

'I know,' Bunta said.

'I know you do,' Eikichi countered, 'which is why I want you to think if this battle with Kogashiwa is worth the amount of trouble it could potentially cause you.'

'It is,' Bunta replied and he believed it.

'Okay,' Eikichi said, 'if that's how you look at it, then I won't say a thing. I guess you'll just have to do your best to keep this race as quiet an affair as possible.'

'Of course,' Bunta said.

'Then, I have nothing else to say,' Eikichi said, 'now, go and grab me a new box of soy beans, will you?'

'Sure,' Bunta replied.

Soon the two Fujiwara started working on the tofu while Bunta thought about what his uncle had just told him. It was true that he shouldn't be focusing his attention on anything other than the upcoming Monterrey Rally in Gunma but, for some reason, he found that if he didn't beat Kogashiwa for once and for all, he would not be able to close that particular chapter of his life.

He needed, no, he wanted to beat Kogashiwa for one last time.

This way, he would be able to move on to more important things, like his rallying career. He hadn't given it much thought, deciding to take each race as it came and without thinking about the championship but, Bunta knew that they were doing well enough so that winning the 1977 JRC title wasn't such an impossible feat.

'I'm home,' he heard Kumiko say.

'Welcome back,' he and Eikichi replied.

'How was your day?' Bunta asked her when she removed her shoes so that she could step onto the tatami.

'Tiring,' Kumiko replied, 'but it's okay, the recruits are beginning to be useful so we have a little less work for us to do. But we had a big emergency today: there were a whole class from the school which had been food poisoned.

'Wow,' Eikichi said, 'did they figure out what they'd eaten?'

'Yes,' Kumiko explained, 'apparently they had all eaten some ice-cream during an excursion. Some of the poor kids had pretty bad stomach aches. Even I started feeling dizzy after seeing them.'

'You did?' Bunta asked her.

'Yes,' Kumiko replied, 'but I'm okay now, it was probably watching all those people being sick.'

'Okay,' Bunta accepted and, moving on, he said, 'are you free on Saturday?'

'Eh…' Kumiko hesitated, 'yes, I should be, why?'

'Good,' Bunta replied, 'because we have big plans.'

That same night, Bunta decided to do the deliveries himself so that he could start checking which parts of the 2000GT could still be improved. He had always kept the car in pristine order but, if he knew Kogashiwa as well as he thought he did, he was sure the guy was probably doing some mad tuning to his poor Nissan.

'As if, right?' he said talking to the steering wheel.

After delivering the tofu to Ryo-san's new assistant, the old chef was finally thinking of retiring, he positioned the car facing downhill and, taking it easy at first, he decided to sacrifice speed first so that he could test the car's conditions by pulling a series of extreme manoeuvres.

He noticed that the both the brake pads and the tyres could do with a replacement and he also thought of adjusting the suspensions a little so that the car would feel a little stiffer. He had always rejected the idea of installing a rollcage in the car, thinking that it would totally ruin the aesthetics and also because having the Celica which, after all was a proper rally car, he wanted to keep the 2000GT as it was.

The engine didn't really need any work at all, he would just make sure the oil and coolant levels were okay and would leave the prototype which roared under the hood just as Katayama's guys had left it when they installed it a few years ago.

Bunta finished the downhill just a few minutes later and, turning round, he decided to go back uphill so that, this time, he could apply what he'd learned in the months he'd been racing with Shin. He knew that he was already taking the fastest possible lines in Akina but he still wanted to see if he had missed something.

'So,' Eikichi said when he saw his nephew get back home, at nearly seven o'clock in the morning.

'It's not too bad,' Bunta replied.

'Good,' Eikichi said.

'Listen,' Bunta started, 'just now, I was thinking that you and I have never really raced each other.'

'Nope,' Eikichi replied.

'It's a pity that's not going to happen,' Bunta commented.

'Why are you saying that?' Eikichi asked him keeping an even tone of voice.

'Well,' Bunta replied, 'I think that even if you and the Bellett could make it, you would still not want to race.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Eikichi asked him, 'my car and…'

'I was just kidding,' Bunta interrupted his uncle placing his hand onto his shoulder, 'don't get so excited about it or I'll think you do want to race me.'

'In your dreams,' Eikichi challenged him.

That made Bunta let out a soft chuckle then, he walked back into the house just in time to see Kumiko rushing from the kitchen towards the downstairs' bathroom. He found that a little weird but he thought nothing of it since he was thinking about the list of things he needed to do to the 2000GT, deciding he'd go to Nitta-san's repairs shop to get the tools he needed.

While he was upstairs getting changed, Eikichi saw Kumiko get out of the bathroom looking a little peaky.

'Kumi-chan, are you okay?'

'Yeah,' the girl replied weakly.

'Are you sure?' Eikichi asked her.

'Yes,' Kumiko replied, 'it's just…it's nothing,' she added.

'Well,' Eikichi said placing his hand on top of her head, 'you're the nurse here but, if there's anything wrong, you can tell me or that airhead you've married, you know that, right?'

'Bunta's not an airhead,' Kumiko said with a small smile.

'You say that because you love him too much,' Eikichi countered moving his hand off her head.

'Look who's talking,' Kumiko challenged him still smiling.

'Oh,' Eikichi said feigning disappointment, 'I see that that rascal's sense of humour is rubbing onto you.'

'I'll take that as a compliment,' Kumiko countered once again then, her smile gone, she turned round and ran back towards the bathroom.

'Kumi-chan?' Eikichi said. Bunta had just come downstairs and, hearing his uncle's alarmed tone of voice, he looked at him with a worried frown, 'she's not well,' Eikichi explained, 'it's the second time she's sick today.'

Bunta was going to speak when Kumiko came out of the bathroom looking even paler.

'Are you okay?' he asked his wife.

'Yes,' Kumiko replied, 'I think.'

'Kumi-chan,' Eikichi started, he sounded as though as he was about to confront a very delicate issue, 'I'm wondering…could it be that you're pregnant?'

'What?' Bunta asked looking from his uncle back at his wife, 'Kumiko?'

The girl looked at the two Fujiwara then, she stared at the floor for a short while as if she was thinking about something very hard then, very, very slowly, Bunta saw her head move in what was a very definite nod.

'What?'

'I'm not entirely sure,' Kumiko said, 'but I have missed my last period and…I feel dizzy all the time…I think…'

She didn't finish the sentence because, right then, Bunta took her into a bear-like hug which lifted her small body off the ground. Bunta didn't even think that it wasn't wise to twirl her around like that, he was just too happy to consider such a trivial matter.

'Bunta,' she tried saying.

'Hey kid,' Eikichi said, 'set her down, she'll vomit on you if you keep doing that.'

'Oh,' Bunta gasped, 'sorry,' he said while he stopped and, putting his wife back on the floor, he stared at her to see if she was okay. She still looked a little sick and that made him frown, 'you're staying home today.'

'What?' Kumiko asked, 'I can't, I…'

'We'll go to see the doctor later,' Bunta decided, 'but there's no way I'm letting you go to work.'

'Bunta…'

'Kumi-chan,' Eikichi said, 'he's right, until we know for sure, it's best if you stay home. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea if you go to work while you can't keep your food in your stomach, don't you think?'

Kumiko simply nodded.

'Good,' Eikichi said then, he looked at the young couple and said, 'maybe they're not in order but, just in case, congratulations. It's such a happy occasion that I might even have some sake.'

'Nice try,' Kumiko said sternly, 'but not nice enough.'

Eikichi just clicked his tongue in disappointment and then proceeded to go back to the shop, also so that he could give the privacy the couple needed in such a special moment in their lives. Also because he was getting too emotional and he too needed some space of his own.

Meanwhile, Bunta called Dr Yanagisawa to let him know that Kumiko wasn't going to work that morning because she was feeling ill. The good doctor, after asking a few questions to Bunta, somehow managed to get her an appointment for that same morning with Dr Kimura, a female gynaecologist.

He then sat down next to her by the living room's table when she said:

'I'm worried about something.'

'What is it?' he asked her.

'If I'm pregnant,' she replied, 'I don't know if we should tell Fuka-san and Yuuichi-san, they'll…'

'Don't be silly,' Bunta said, 'even if we don't tell them, they'll eventually see it when you get bigger.'

'I know,' she agreed, 'it's just that…'

'Don't worry,' Bunta said, 'I'll think of a way to tell them to make sure they're okay with it, okay?'

Kumiko nodded once.

'And now,' he said, 'is there anything I can do while we wait for the appointment? I mean, I heard there are some things which make the nausea go away.'

'Crackers,' she replied, 'eating dry crackers seems to help.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'I'll go and get some and…er…'

'Yes?'

He leant towards her and kissing her on her lips, he looked at her and with a wide smile, he said:

'I'm very happy Kumiko.'

Without giving her time to think, he left her there, got his shoes on and started running out of the shop not even noticing that Eikichi was sitting there with his eyes moist with tears of joy. It was a happy morning at the Fujiwara Tofu Shop and, it became even happier when Dr Kimura confirmed the news:

'You're two weeks pregnant.'

'Really?' Kumiko asked her.

'Yes,' the gynaecologist said, 'according to the date of your last period, you should give birth around May next year. Are you going to keep on working?'

'Can I?' Kumiko asked her.

'Of course,' Dr Kimura said, 'just as long as everything's normal, there should not be any problems with it. I'll just discuss it with Dr Yanagisawa so that the appropriate precautions are taken, for instance, you should avoid going anywhere near the x-ray machine.'

'Why is that?' Bunta asked the doctor.

'Because they're dangerous for the baby,' she replied.

'Wouldn't it be better if she stopped working?' Bunta asked sounding rather apprehensive.

'No,' Dr Kimura said, 'I myself have two children and I carried on working during both of the pregnancies. It is of course your choice but Kumiko-san should be fine. Besides, working at a hospital is the best place to be if she does have problems, don't you think?'

'True,' Bunta admitted.

'Well,' the doctor said, 'now you should go home and get some rest. If the nausea gets really bad let me know and we'll see what we can do about it. Other than that, you know how the rest works, right?'

'Yes,' Kumiko said, 'I do.'

'Good,' Dr Kimura replied then, with a kind smile, she added, 'congratulations, Mum and Dad.'

Bunta swallowed hearing someone referring to him as "Dad" but, for some reason, it made him feel like he was ten centimetres taller and, the way he walked out of the room was as though as someone had attached springs onto the soles of his shoes. He was so happy that the last thing he thought about was the difference between his reaction now and when, ages ago, Midori had told him she was pregnant.

'Bunta,' he heard Kumiko say during their trip back home.

'Yes?'

'Other than Eikichi-san, and maybe Fuka-san and Yuuichi-san,' she said, 'can we keep this a secret. I would like to wait until the end of the third month to announce it to everyone else, you know, I…'

'Okay,' he said, 'whatever makes you happier.'

Soon after that and having left Kumiko in bed, while Eikichi snuck out of the house to get himself a can of beer from a vending machine, Bunta drove the 2000GT to Nitta-san's place where he'd meet with Yuuichi. Hopefully, he would have the chance to take his best friend up Mt Akina to share the news with him.

'Hey,' Nitta-san said, 'how are you doing?'

'I'm great,' Bunta replied smiling.

'Oh,' Nitta-san gasped, 'you sure look happy.'

'I am,' Bunta admitted then, before the conversation could get out of his control, he said, 'I wonder if I could use some of your tools, I need to do some work to the car.'

'Of course,' Nitta-san said, 'is there anything wrong with it?'

'No,' Bunta replied, 'it's just that…'

'You're having a race, right?' Nitta-san finished for him.

'He's what?' they both heard Masashi say. The guy had just come out from nowhere and before they could even reply, they saw Yuuichi's dark blue Mazda RX-4 driving up the short lane which led to the repairs shop. Thankfully, that gave Bunta enough time to come up with a good way to explain what was going to happen.

'So,' Yuuichi said once he'd been debriefed, 'you're racing Kogashiwa again.'

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'Doesn't he ever get tired?' Masashi asked making Bunta shrug his shoulders, 'I mean, how many times have you two raced already?'

'Too many,' Yuuichi agreed.

'Anyway,' Bunta said, 'I need to work a little on the car and, after that,' he added looking at Yuuichi, 'I'd like to take it up for a spin and I want you to come with me.'

'No, no,' Yuuichi said shaking his head, 'no way.'

'I need to talk to you too,' Bunta tried again.

'What about?' Masashi asked sounding very curious.

'It's kind of personal,' Bunta said.

'Oh,' Masashi replied sounding a little hurt, 'okay, yeah, because I'm…'

'Don't worry,' Bunta interrupted him, 'you'll find out soon enough, I just need to talk to Yuuichi first.'

Yuuichi looked at Bunta with a bewildered expression on his face which turned into a blush when Masashi, looking at both Bunta and Yuuichi frowned in worry and, nodding his head in acceptance, he said:

'I didn't know you two had that kind of…'

'What are you talking about?' Bunta burst out grabbing Masashi's neck.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi threatened, 'do you want to drink oil or something?'

'I was kidding!' Masashi exclaimed then, freeing himself from Bunta's grasp, he laughed and said, 'you guys can't even take a joke.'

'Let's just get to work, okay?,' Bunta said.

'Sure,' Masashi said still laughing at his own joke.

Yuuichi just followed his two friends and within just a few minutes, they were enthralled with their work on the beautiful white Toyota 2000GT which still was the pride and joy of all the racers in Akina. Bunta knew that the car was beginning to show its age but he didn't care, it was still a superb machine which he'd be happy to pass on to his kid. Then, thinking of the small life which was growing in Kumiko's tummy, made him laugh a little.

'You're okay?' Yuuichi asked him.

'Yeah,' Bunta hurried to reply.

'You know,' Masashi said, 'if it wasn't because I know better, I'd think you're happy about racing Kogashiwa again. Or maybe you just miss street racing so much that you can't wait for this race.'

Bunta limited himself to giving him a superior look which made Masashi wish he hadn't spoken at all.

'Anyway,' Yuuichi said, 'you better be careful during the race, you don't want the JFA to suspend your license like they did with Keiichi's.'

'Of course not,' Bunta agreed, 'which is why we have to keep this race as secret as possible. I don't want to have the galleries full of people so, make sure you two keep your mouth shut, okay?'

'That's a given,' Masashi replied.

'What about Kogashiwa?' Yuuichi asked, 'don't you think he'll blabber about it?'

'No idea,' Bunta said, 'I hope he's smart enough not to spread the word too much. Besides, he might not want to have that much public either.'

'Why not?' Masashi asked him and, seeing the way both Yuuichi and Bunta looked at him made him answer his own question, 'yeah, I see. So, you're planning on beating the pants off him, correct?'

'Naturally,' Bunta replied confidently.

That made the other two men look at each other then, with a smile on their faces, they got back to work thinking that if cars could run on self-esteem, Bunta's could make it to the moon and back. At any rate, they knew that Bunta's confidence came from the fact that he was the best and he knew it.

A few hours later, with the first stars beginning to sparkle on the sky, Bunta and Yuuichi were sitting by the lake observing the calm surface while they sipped some soda from a couple of cans they had just bought.

'It's perfect,' Bunta said.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi agreed, 'I don't think it could run any more smoothly.'

'What are you talking about?' Bunta asked his best friend.

'Your car?' Yuuichi ventured, 'what are _you _talking about?'

'My life,' he said then, before his best friend could speak, he added, 'do you remember that thing I needed to talk about with you?'

'Kumiko-chan's pregnant, right?' Yuuichi said.

'How do you know?' Bunta asked him sounding shocked.

'I didn't,' Yuuichi replied, 'I just had to look a you. That kind of happiness can only come from something as special as that. I think that not even racing can give you the kind of rush you're getting now, am I right?'

'Yeah,' Bunta admitted.

'Congratulations man,' Yuuichi said patting him on his shoulder, 'I'm genuinely happy for you two.'

'But..'

'Hey,' Yuuichi interrupted, 'don't worry about me or Fuka. It sucks that we might never experience what you guys are going through now but it doesn't matter. We still have each other and that's what counts, besides, we do get to be your kid's honorary aunt and uncle, right?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied.

'In that case,' Yuuichi said, 'let me tell Fuka myself. I think it's the best way.'

'Okay,' Bunta agreed, 'thanks.'

'You're welcome,' Yuuichi said then, after a short while, he asked, 'I know it's premature but, what would you like it to be?'

'What?'

'A boy or a girl?' Yuuichi specified.

'Ah,' Bunta gasped, 'I don't know…to be honest, I think it should be a girl, this way she might end up looking like Kumiko. If it's a boy…'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said with an evil smile, 'it'd be terrible if he looked like you.'

'Oi!' Bunta complained but that only made Yuuichi laugh.

'You know,' he said, 'I understand now why you weren't pushing the 2000GT earlier.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'If you had to give me this sort of news,' Yuuichi said, 'you needed me to be conscious.'

'Yuuichi…'

'You know what,' the guy said, 'I think I should walk home.'

Bunta just scratched his cheek.

In the end, Yuuichi didn't walk home but Bunta was very careful not to freak the hell out of his friend when he drove the 2000GT downhill. Yuuichi had been extraordinarily cool about Kumiko's pregnancy so Bunta thought it would be nice of him to drive in a normal way or, at least, as normally as he could.

On Saturday evening, right after dinnertime, Bunta waited until Kumiko finished doing the dishes to ask her if she was feeling well enough to go up Mt Akina with him. He knew she wasn't very happy about his battle with Kogashiwa but, seeing as it was the last time her husband would race on Akina, she said:

'I'll be fine. The nausea is only bad during the morning.'

'Okay,' Bunta said.

Soon enough, they climbed onto the 2000GT and waved to Eikichi who stood outside the shop's entrance. Bunta suspected that the old man would to and get some beer while Kumiko was gone. He still found it mildly amusing that his uncle didn't think Bunta knew about this small transgression of his but, since Eikichi's health had been very good in recent times, Bunta had already decided to let it pass.

'You're okay?' he heard Kumiko ask him.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied.

'You'll win, right?' she asked him.

'Of course I will,' Bunta replied.

'Good,' Kumiko said.

Within less than fifteen minutes they were up at the summit where Bunta saw that, together with Yuuichi and Fuka and their Mazda RX-4, there were a few other cars: Masashi's red Fairlady Z, Makoto Watanabe's new Mitsubishi Lancer and Shun Mitsuri with his beautiful Subaru Leone. He then saw a very familiar looking Nissan. Bunta parked his 2000GT by the guardrail and, climbing out of it, he opened the door for Kumiko and, after that, he walked towards the Nissan's owner.

'What are you doing here?' he asked.

'Er…' Keiichi hesitated.

'You should go home,' Bunta said seriously.

'I know,' Keiichi said, 'I just heard about this race from Suzuki-san and…'

'Masashi,' Bunta said glaring at his friend, 'you shouldn't have told him.'

'Don't blame him,' Keiichi said, 'this is your last race, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied.

'Then I wouldn't have missed it for the world,' Keiichi said, 'and since I can't race you, I wanted to be here so that I could ask you for a favour instead.'

'What do you want?' Bunta asked him.

'I…' Keiichi started, 'I wonder if it'd be okay if I follow you two during the race. It's the next best thing and I really want to see your drifts for one last time. No one does it like you do here in Akina and…'

'Okay,' Bunta interrupted him before he could get embarrassed, 'if Kogashiwa's okay with it, so am I.'

They would soon find out because, at that very instant, with a few minutes to go before the clock would mark ten o'clock in the evening, they heard Kogashiwa's Skyline as he cleared the last corner of Akina's uphill. Bunta started feeling really excited and something told him that his last race in Akina would be a truly memorable one.

_To be continued…_


	79. Chapter Seventy Eight

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy Eight_

All eight people there observed Kogashiwa's midnight blue Nissan while drove up one of the lateral lanes at the summit of Mt Akina's pass so that he could then turn back into the main road with the nose of his car facing downhill. Once in position, he stopped the engine and climbed out of the car.

'Hello there,' Bunta said approaching him.

'Hey,' Kogashiwa replied.

'Listen,' Bunta said indicating Keiichi with a gesture, 'the kid here wants to follow us with his car, that's alright with you, isn't it?'

'Whatever,' Kogashiwa replied, 'as long as he doesn't get in the way.'

'I won't,' Keiichi assured him, 'I promise.'

'Fine then,' Kogashiwa said.

'I see you're on your own,' Bunta pointed out, 'you could have brought some friends.'

'Unlike some people,' Kogashiwa said eyeing everyone who were there, 'I don't need any moral support.'

Bunta let out a humourless chuckle and, nodding once, he said:

'No, I guess you don't.'

'Okay,' Shun Mitsuri intervened, 'since we _are_ neutral here,' he added pointing at himself and Makoto Watanabe, 'we'll go downhill, I'll be at the five hairpins and, you'll be at the finish line?' he asked Makoto.

'Yes,' Makoto said, 'it's kind of a pity that I'll miss the start of the race but something tells me I'll get to see the best bit.'

'Then I'll do the count…'

'Masashi,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'please let me do that.'

'O-okay,' Masashi said, 'I guess it's only right.'

'If you're done with the planning,' Kogashiwa said impatiently, 'we should get things started, my wife and son are waiting for me back home so let's not waste so much time organising.'

Everyone seemed to want to shake their heads at the same time but, seeing how Bunta seemed to be more than willing to humour his arch-rival, they all decided to let it pass. Shun Mitsuri and Makoto Watanabe got in their cars and a few seconds later, they were both driving downhill, probably trying to resist the temptation to start a race of their own.

'Okay,' Bunta said talking to Keiichi, 'as soon as this is over, I want you to head straight home, okay?'

'Sure,' Keiichi replied.

'Good,' Bunta said then, noticing that both Kumiko and Fuka were sitting on top of Yuuichi's RX-4, he walked towards them and, looking at his wife, he said, 'you'll be okay in here, right?'

'She will,' Fuka replied, 'go and do your thing.'

'Be careful,' Kumiko added.

'I will be,' Bunta said glancing briefly at her still flat tummy, realising that he now had a very powerful reason to be extra-careful, 'I won't do anything too crazy, I promise,' he then walked away from them.

'Liar,' Kumiko muttered.

'Big fat one,' Fuka agreed.

'He'll be okay,' Yuuichi told them with a reassuring smile before he followed Bunta. The two women observed as Bunta climbed into the 2000GT, Kogashiwa got in his Skyline and Keiichi placed his right behind them. Masashi had just come back from checking that there was no incoming traffic.

'All clear,' he said to Yuuichi.

'Good,' the younger guy said then, glancing at Bunta, he saw his best friend nodding. He then looked at Kogashiwa who, through the windscreen, looked well set into trying to inflict Bunta the ultimate humiliation.

A few seconds later, at exactly ten o'clock pm on Saturday August 27th 1977, Bunta Fujiwara and Ken Kogashiwa turned on the engines of their cars for what was going to be their final confrontation. Tension was so high that when Yuuichi raised his right hand to shout the countdown as loud as he could, his voice trembled:

'Five, four, three, two, one: GO!'

As soon as he lowered his arm, two absurdly fast cars went past him. Bunta was clearly letting Kogashiwa keep up with him throughout the entire length of the straight which ended in a sharp left-hander. Behind them, keeping a more or less safe distance, they saw Keiichi Tsuchiya in his Nissan.

'Wow,' Yuuichi gasped.

Just before they lost sight of the three cars, the four people there saw that Bunta slowed down a little before the corner thus forcing Kogashiwa to overtake him and enter the corner ahead of the 2000GT. They saw Keiichi's Nissan hesitate as if the strange manoeuvre had also caught him by surprise.

'What is he doing?' Fuka asked her husband.

'No idea,' Yuuichi replied, 'I think that's Bunta's idea of making things interesting.'

'He let him pass on purpose?' Kumiko asked them.

'More than likely,' Masashi replied.

'That crazy Bunta,' Yuuichi smiled affectionately.

Meanwhile, Keiichi followed the two cars through the first right-hander of the course, the one which lead straight onto an ever sharper right hand turn. While he tried to keep up with Bunta's 2000GT he delighted himself watching the sheer mastery with which his idol tackled the corners.

Then, the young racer had an idea.

He pressed the accelerator a little so that he'd get even closer to Bunta's Toyota then, making sure he got it right, Keiichi tried following the same line the 2000GT was taking, finding it so difficult that by the time they got to the following corner, another right-hander, he was already sweating.

'Geez, this is hard,' he complained.

A couple of cars ahead, Kogashiwa was getting nervous. He wasn't as stupid as to think that Bunta had made a mistake or had failed to overtake him at the start of the race. He knew well that that bastard had probably let him pass on purpose and he also knew the infuriating reason why he'd done it.

What was making him worried was the distinct sensation which tingled at the back of his neck: it was as if Bunta's car had some sort of aura which kept reminding him at every corner they took that he could pass him anytime he wanted. In fact, he wasn't even trying to attack him. He would make him regret it.

'Calm down Ken,' he said to himself, 'you can do this.'

Taking another hairpin-like corner, one which led to a more or less straight sector of the pass, he pressed the accelerator so that he could try and put some more distance between his Skyline and the 2000GT. Then, fighting the urge to look at the rear view mirror, he got ready to attack the next set of turns.

Meanwhile, Bunta was just having the time of his life seeing how his rival was doing his very best to keep ahead of him. So far Kogashiwa was doing a very good job and Bunta knew better than to underestimate one of the few people he considered his rival. He also noticed how Keiichi was trying to copy his lines.

'That kid,' he smiled.

In reality, everything was going according to his plan: he wanted to show Kogashiwa that challenging him in Akina was as useless as trying to sweep the desert but then, knowing that his rival would not be happy if they did a repeat of their previous race, he had decided to render things a little more interesting by letting him pass him at the start. As a bonus, he now got to play with Keiichi as well.

The three cars followed each other in what was one of the fastest sectors of the pass, one with only a couple of sharp corners with the rest of it being three reasonably straight sections of road in which the 2000GT's powerful engine had the definite advantage.

For this reason, as they entered the second of the sharp corners, a left-hander, Bunta found himself stuck to the back of Kogashiwa's Skyline and it took every bit of his skill not to overtake him. He found it almost funny how it was harder to keep behind someone than to just overtake him.

Kogashiwa also noticed that and almost as if he were inviting Bunta to suit himself, he veered towards the left of the road while they covered the last straight before the five hairpins. He knew Bunta would never overtake him like this but he still wanted his rival to know that he wasn't up for any favours.

Keiichi observed the entire scene feeling hot from the effort he was making to keep up with the two drivers but, at the same time, he was starting to realise that what he was witnessing wasn't just an average race but, rather, two immensely talented racers who would stop at nothing in order to challenge each other.

And, somehow, Keiichi felt that the race proper hadn't even started.

While they headed towards the five hairpins, at the last left-hander before that, Bunta decided he had plenty of time for fun and, getting his car across the road, he did one of the four-wheel, inertia drifts he had become so famous for then, leaving the turn behind, Bunta prepared himself for his favourite part:

The five hairpins.

Knowing that it would be the last part of the course in which he would be taking it easy, Bunta decided to cover the first three hairpins in three different ways so that Keiichi would see them all. He then tackled the fourth hairpin in the fastest way he knew how and, by the time he got to the fifth, a right hander which led to a series of two left-handers, Bunta decided that it was time to get serious.

Forgetting about Keiichi, he tried to imagine that Shin was right next to him, telling him what to do and how to tackle the corners. He also started doing what he had come to call "listening" to what his car told him and, following what he "heard" from the 2000GT, he attacked first the hairpin, then the two left-handers and by the time he got to the following right-hander, he was already level with Kogashiwa.

There was a short straight which led to the following set of corners and, there, Bunta floored the accelerator of the 2000GT, overtaking Kogashiwa with such an absurd ease that even Keiichi who was observing everything from behind felt sorry for the poor guy.

Bunta got to the a ninety-degree right-hander well ahead of Kogashiwa but knowing better than to think the Irohazaka racer would give up so easily, he prepared himself for the attack which surely came. Kogashiwa tried to push the nose of his Nissan in the impossibly narrow space left by Bunta and, in a manoeuvre worth the best JTCC race, the Nissan racer did his best to force Bunta out of his racing line.

Having to give in a little, Bunta decided to let Kogashiwa level with him again and, the two cars entered the following left-hander with Kogashiwa's Nissan slightly ahead of Bunta's 2000GT. Bunta knew that if Kogashiwa overtook him now, he would only have two more chances to get ahead so he only had a split second to decide whether to sacrifice his position now and get it back later or, risk it all and maybe end the race with a nasty crash.

His competitive nature made the decision for him and, flooring the accelerator, he used the short straight which followed the left-hander to make sure his car would be ahead for the upcoming right hand turn. Stealing a quick glance at his left, he saw that Kogashiwa's Nissan was still more or less level with him.

'Okay,' Bunta said.

Veering towards the inside of the corner, he lowered his tyres into the gutter. He knew that not only he would be faster that way but, since Kogashiwa had insisted on gluing himself to his side to stay level with him, there was no way for his rival to use the same technique.

The result was that Bunta got out of the turn right ahead of Kogashiwa and without giving him time to react, Bunta entered the following corner, a left-hander, using the same technique as before, only that, this time, he used it to increase the entry speed then, getting out of the gutter, he made sure he blocked any overtaking points Kogashiwa might have considered using.

With Bunta increasing the gap all-too-quickly, a nervous Kogashiwa desperately tried to come up with a way to overtake his arch-rival and the occasion presented itself when, at long last, they reached one of the sectors of the pass where the lanes became three.

Knowing that it was his final chance, Kogashiwa entered the fast corner at a kamikaze-like speed with the sole intention of levelling with the 2000GT and cut him off just before the three lines merged back into two. He'd nearly succeeded in forcing Bunta towards the guardrail when, all of a sudden, in mid corner, Bunta did something which freaked the heck out of him:

A ski drift.

'What the…' Keiichi said when he saw Bunta's 2000GT get onto its two left tyres, tilting the body sideways and clear the corner before the car landed back onto its four tyres to continue driving as if nothing had happened. Only then he noticed something else: Kogashiwa's Nissan had come to a halt so suddenly that it took every bit of Keiichi's driving skills to avoid a collision between the two Nissan.

He then saw through the rear view mirror as Kogashiwa, probably recovering from the shock of seeing such an bizarre manoeuvre being done right in the middle of a race, got his car moving once again. Keiichi then pulled towards the side hoping Kogashiwa would have enough room to pass him.

Kogashiwa was fuming when he passed by Keiichi's GT-R. He was furious at Bunta for doing something as stupid as a ski drift but was even more angry at himself for letting something like that break his concentration to the point he had actually stopped the car.

Accelerating once again, he tried to catch up with Bunta who, by then, was a good ten seconds away. Kogashiwa knew well that at this point of the course, there were no more places where one could overtake him but he didn't care, as long as there was a chance, he would take it.

The drivers of all three cars could already see the streets at the bottom of the pass and Keiichi, from his Nissan, knew well that Kogashiwa hadn't given up but he also knew that there was no way Bunta would let his rival overtake him now. Meanwhile, using the part of his brain which wasn't focused on driving, he replayed Bunta's ski drift.

That easily was the craziest thing he'd seen in his whole life.

Only thinking about it made Keiichi get goose bumps and he could only imagine what Kogashiwa had felt seeing it from so much closer. He then considered something else and it was that Bunta's skills had surpassed anything anyone had seen before. He got excited just to think of how far the guy could go.

With this, they finally got to the last corner of the pass. After that there was a straight at the end of which Makoto Watanabe would be waiting for them to decide who was the winner of this battle and Keiichi focused his attention on Kogashiwa's Nissan to see what the guy would do next.

Then it happened:

Right at the moment when Bunta entered the corner, Kogashiwa followed him into it as closely as possible and, the instant the two cars were moving away from the apex, Kogashiwa's Nissan hit the back of the 2000GT, forcing Bunta out of the optimal racing line. Keiichi then saw something which, in theory, was impossible: somehow Bunta managed to not only not lose control of his car but, what was even more unbelievable, he imprinted even more speed to his Toyota clearing the corner faster than ever.

In the end, Bunta crossed the finish line with three quarters of his car ahead of Kogashiwa's Nissan.

Not the absolute victory everyone expected but, considering how Bunta had been playing with Keiichi for half of the race and what had just happened at the very last corner, it was still so remarkable that Keiichi, the only lucky one who had witnessed it all, knew he would never forget this race for as long as he lived.

Things only got better when he parked his car next to Bunta's 2000GT:

'Alright,' he heard Kogashiwa say, 'I admit it.'

'You do?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes,' Kogashiwa barked, 'you're better. At least here in Akina.'

'Oh,' Bunta said sounding amused, 'we can always move it to Irohazaka.'

'No,' Kogashiwa said dryly, 'but I hope you'll tell me something.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked.

'You weren't even trying, were you?'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked all too innocently.

'Other than what you did back there in that last corner and that ski drift you pulled off,' a still fuming Kogashiwa said, 'the rest of the time you weren't entirely serious, were you?'

'I was,' Bunta lied, 'kind of.'

'Bastard,' Kogashiwa hissed.

'Hey,' Bunta said defensively, 'this is my home course, I will always have the advantage here so don't think I wasn't taking you seriously just because I didn't feel like pushing it from the start. It would have been the same if we were at Irohazaka and you know it.'

'Yeah,' Kogashiwa said not sounding too convinced.

'Anyway,' Bunta continued, 'you nearly had me back there, you know?'

'Yeah, right,' an even more sceptic Kogashiwa replied.

'So,' Bunta said, 'this is it, right?'

'Yeah,' Kogashiwa replied, 'I'm done with racing. I think that I'll leave it to my son Kai, hopefully one day he'll do everything I wasn't able to accomplish. If he lets me help him, I'll do my best to make it happen.'

'That's commendable,' Bunta said seriously.

'Yeah,' Kogashiwa repeated then, glancing at both Makoto and Keiichi briefly then, he looked back at Bunta and, climbing back into his car, he said, 'have a nice life.'

'You too,' Bunta said.

A few seconds later, Ken Kogashiwa was leaving the stage of the last major battle Mt Akina would see for many years and the only two people who had witnessed the end of it, Keiichi Tsuchiya and Makoto Watanabe, looked at each other with an equally knowing expression on their faces.

'You know,' Keiichi commented to Bunta, 'I think that if you and Kogashiwa-san stopped trying so hard to dislike each other, you two would make the best of friends.'

'What?' Bunta asked.

'The kid's right,' Makoto said.

Bunta decided to ignored them and, walking back towards his 2000GT, he waited for the handful of minutes he knew it would take for Yuuichi and the rest of the guys to get down from the summit. Naturally, the first to arrive was Shun Mitsuri with his Leone who proceeded to describe in full detail what he'd seen of the race to a very interested Makoto. Then, they saw the RX4 and the Fairlady Z and soon enough they were all gathered at the small parking area at the bottom of Mt Akina's pass.

'Congratulations man,' Masashi said.

'It was the greatest race,' Keiichi kept telling everyone who would listen.

'Are you sure you want to retire?' Shun asked him.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied then, glancing at Kumiko, he said, 'that Kogashiwa made a good point.'

'What do you mean?' Yuuichi asked him.

'It's time to move on,' he replied, 'I'm not saying I'll never drive on Akina because…'

'…that's impossible,' his best friend finished for him.

'Exactly,' Bunta said.

'But we've had our time, right?' Masashi asked.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied then, all three of them stared at the dark mountain, almost as if they were paying their respects to Mt Akina, thanking it for the fun times it had provided them with. All of the racers present there would always think that a large part of their youth would forever be tied to this old and twisted road.

'Let's go,' Kumiko suggested softly.

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed then, looking at Keiichi, he smirked and said, 'you're still here.'

'No I'm not,' Keiichi replied cheekily then, before Bunta could tell him off, he ran towards his car and, climbing into it, he turned the engine on and took it all the way to where Bunta and the others were then, rolling the window down, he said, 'Bunta, I'll never forget what you've showed me today. Thank you.'

'Go home you rascal,' he said.

'Going!' Keiichi exclaimed smiling happily then, taking off as fast as his GT-R could take him, he disappeared.

'That kid…' Bunta started then, he finished, '…will do great things, I'm sure of it.'

Everyone nodded their agreement to that.

'Well,' Masashi said, 'it's been fun but my wife's waiting for me so I better go.'

'Yeah,' Shun added, 'I have to go too.'

After Makoto said his goodbyes too, the only ones left there were the two married couples.

'Since we're already out,' Fuka said all of a sudden, 'why don't we go for a drive somewhere?'

'That's a good idea,' Kumiko agreed.

'It could be like a double-date,' Yuuichi said making Bunta smirk at him.

'So,' he said, 'where do go?'

'Well,' Fuka replied, 'we could go to Mt Myogi, it's famous for its great views, especially at night.'

Bunta was about to open his mouth to say that Mt Myogi was also a famous gathering place for couples in search for some intimacy when Yuuichi proceeded to elbow him not-so-kindly on his ribcage. That made him cough a little and that prompt Kumiko's question:

'Aren't you tired from the race? Maybe we should go home.'

'Nah,' Bunta said, 'I'm fine. How are _you _feeling?'

'We're alright,' Kumiko said putting her hand onto her tummy.

With this, the two couples separated and Fuka and Yuuichi climbed into his RX-4 while Bunta and Kumiko got onboard the 2000GT and soon enough the two cars were on their way to Mt Myogi, with the Toyota on the lead. Half an hour later, both vehicles were parked at the big parking area on the summit of the mountain, joining quite a few others.

'Ohh!' Fuka exclaimed.

'It's so beautiful!' Kumiko agreed.

All four of them observed one of the things which made Mt Myogi so famous and what, during the day was a breathtaking view of the Gunma prefecture, right now, at night, the main attraction and the official reason why so many couples came here at this time of the evening was seeing the city lights sparkling onto the darkness. It was as though someone had dropped a fistful of diamonds onto a black piece of velvet.

'It's happening, isn't it?' they all heard Yuuichi say.

'What is?' Bunta asked him.

'We're growing up, aren't we?' he asked.

'Er…yeah?' Bunta replied hesitantly.

'You know,' Yuuichi said full of melancholy, 'I remember when I first met you six years ago. You had just moved in with your uncle and I was class representative. And now, we're both married and you two are on your way to become parents. It's scary how time flies...'

The trip down memory lane lasted for another two hours and it was nearly two o'clock in the morning when Bunta and Kumiko finally got back home to find Eikichi working on the day's tofu delivery. He looked at them with the sort of look a father gave to a pair of a misbehaving kids but he still asked:

'Did you win?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied.

'Good,' Eikichi said, 'now, off to bed, Kumi-chan needs her rest.'

Feeling too happy to protest, Bunta and his wife walked into the house and, padding up the stairs, they went to their bedroom to find that, for some reason, all of their stuff had been replaced with Eikichi's who now seemed to occupy the bedroom which, up until then, had been Bunta's.

'Eikichi?' he asked from up the stairs, 'where…'

'You two will sleep in my room from now on,' the old man explained speaking from downstairs, 'it's bigger and once the baby arrives you'll need the extra space so I thought you'd need some time to get used to it.'

'Ah…'

'Eikichi-san,' Kumiko said, 'we're very grateful.'

'No problem,' Eikichi replied casually then, whistling some old-fashioned tune, he went back to work.

'You know,' Bunta whispered when they went to their new room, 'I love him to pieces but, sometimes I kind of wish he stopped acting on his own like this, it's so…'

'Unnerving?' Kumiko supplied yawning.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied.

'I have news for you,' Kumiko said while getting in bed, 'you two are so alike that's almost scary.'

'What?' Bunta protested, 'I am not…'

'Get in bed, Bunta,' Kumiko said with a small smile, 'I'm sleepy.'

'Okay,' he said and getting in bed, he proceeded to hug his wife so that they would fall asleep together. He could not help but to remember what Kogashiwa had said about his kid and just before his brain started shutting down, he thought of the chance that maybe, sometime in the future, their kids would race each other thus continuing the Kogashiwa vs Fujiwara rivalry. Somehow, thinking of that prospect made him get rather excited.

_To be continued…_


	80. Chapter Seventy Nine

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Seventy Nine_

Since it was getting rather cold, now that October had finally arrived, Bunta decided to keep the 2000GT's engine running while he was parked outside the Maebashi station waiting for Shin to get there from his place in Tokyo. This way, he hoped, the heat from the engine would keep the air coming from the in-takes slightly warmer.

'Where the heck is he?' Bunta complained glancing at his watch.

Shin was already half an hour late.

This was a very out of character thing to do for his very punctual team mate and Bunta started wondering if the fact that they were about to win the All Japan Rally Championship was getting to his head. No, Bunta reasoned, if there was a reason why Shin could be this late, it probably had to do with some woman.

He still remembered the one he saw him with while they ran the Monterrey Rally in Gunma. Shin had soon decided that his team mate didn't really need his full concentration since, let's face it, Bunta seemed to know every single pass in Gunma like the back of his hand, so he had decided to indulge in his second favourite activity: seducing some of the local girls.

Unfortunately for said girls, he was just as good at it as he was as navigator.

Bunta checked the watch again and decided to turn the engine off so that he could get out of the car and go to the station. Once there, he walked purposely towards the booth and, seeing an old lady there, he smiled and asked:

'Excuse me, do you know if there's a delay in the train from Shinjuku?'

The lady looked a little confused but then she said:

'No, that train arrived on time forty minutes ago.'

'Ah,' Bunta gasped then, he asked, 'when is the next one coming?'

'It should be here in twenty minutes from now,' the lady replied.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'thanks a lot.'

Getting a bit worried, he decided that, while he was out of the car, he would try and call Shin at home. Maybe the guy was too busy entertaining his latest conquest to bother with the fact that he had a race scheduled for that weekend. No, Bunta admonished himself, Shin would not do that, would he?

Deciding he wouldn't, Bunta grabbed the receiver at the nearest payphone and, taking the little black book where he kept the important numbers, he found Shin's and started dialling it. The phone rang once, twice and up to nine times before Bunta realised that no one would answer it.

He then found Yoshida's number and decided to call him.

'Yoshida here,' the man replied almost immediately.

'Hi, it's me,' Bunta said.

'Oh,' Yoshida said, 'what's wrong?'

'Er…' he hesitated then, he said, 'I'm not sure. Shin hasn't shown up yet. It looks like he's missed his train and no one is answering his phone at home. I have no way to get in touch with Hide-san since they're already on the road. What should I do?'

'Well,' Yoshida said, 'when is the next train from Tokyo?'

'In twenty minutes,' Bunta replied.

'Okay,' Yoshida said, 'wait for that one and if Shin still doesn't show up, call me again.'

'I could go to his place,' Bunta suggested, 'I know where he lives and I think it'll be faster that way.'

'Okay,' Yoshida repeated, 'then, wait for that second train, if he isn't onboard, then go to Tokyo but, hurry up, if you two are late for the pre-race meeting, we'll be disqualified.'

'I know,' Bunta said.

'Meanwhile,' Yoshida added before hanging up, 'I'll get in touch with the organisation so we can leave a message for Hide-san. I'll stay in the office so that you all have a contact point, okay?'

'Good,' Bunta said, 'thanks a lot.'

'No worries,' Yoshida said.

Hanging up, he thought that maybe Shin would have called Bunta at the Fujiwara Tofu Shop from wherever he was so, dialling his home's number by heart, he waited until Kumiko answered the phone. His wife informed him that Shin had not called and she then asked if everything was alright.

'Yes, don't worry,' he said.

He hanged the phone for the third time and, glancing at the station's large clock, he saw that it was nearly quarter to nine in the morning. If Shin didn't come in with the following train, he would have less than three hours to go to Tokyo and to the meeting place in the Yamanashi prefecture.

Without going back to his car, he waited impatiently till the ten o'clock train from Tokyo arrived at Maebashi station. He then saw a few people walking down the stairs but none of them were Shin. The guy still wasn't there. Panicking a little, Bunta hurried towards his car and, climbing into it, he felt grateful he had a full tank for, right now, he would need to drive fast.

During the way to Tokyo on the Kan'Etsu Expressway, Bunta ignored every single speed limit and it wasn't until he got closer to the metropolis that he slowed down a bit, mostly because he needed to find his way to Ikekuburo, the area of Tokyo where Shin had his apartment.

It was eleven o'clock when he finally found the district where his co-pilot lived and it took him ten more minutes to find the exact street. Driving up the narrow lane, he saw something which made him so worried that it was a miracle he managed to keep his car steady.

Right in front of him, among several bystanders, he saw at least three different fire brigade trucks, two ambulances and several police cars. One of the policemen there asked him to stop right where he was. Bunta complied and also rolled his window down.

'I'm sorry but the street is inaccessible,' the middle aged man informed him.

'I can see that,' Bunta said, 'what's happened?'

The police man pointed at a building and said:

'Gas explosion, several apartments are damaged and we had a few casualties.'

Bunta got out of the car and, glancing at the apartment block, he checked the little plate which indicated which place it was. He then pulled his black book again and checking the address he had for Shin's house, he realised that that apartment block was the one where Shin lived.

Swallowing hard, he managed to speak to the policeman:

'I'm sorry but, you said…casualties?'

'Yes,' the policeman said, 'a few of the neighbours were home when it happened. I don't know the actual figures but…'

Bunta was no longer listening to him. Forgetting the 2000GT which still had its engine running, he ran towards one of the paramedics and, grabbing him by his arms, he demanded to know the identity of those who had died.

'I don't know,' the poor guy said, 'I just know that three of them were dead when we got here. There are some injured too but I don't know their names, I'm sorry.'

'Sir,' the policeman said talking to Bunta, 'you need to move the car.'

'My friend lives here,' Bunta said to the paramedic and ignoring the policeman, 'where have you taken the injured?'

'Oh,' the guy said looking happy that he at least knew that, 'we've taken all of them to the Kuroda Hospital, it's not too far from here.'

'Excuse me,' an old lady said clearly talking to Bunta, 'you said your friend lives in here?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied desperately.

'I know most of the neighbours,' the lady announced, 'what's the name of your friend?'

'Sanada Shin,' he said.

'Oh,' she gasped looking sad, 'Shin-chan, I know him.'

'And?' Bunta asked her. He was very quickly losing it.

'He was taken by one of the ambulances,' the lady replied and Bunta felt slightly dizzy with relief, 'he looked pretty bad but I think he was alive. He was one of the ones they got out first, wasn't it?' she then asked to the poor paramedic who, again, didn't have a clue.

'Kuroda Hospital, you said?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes,' the paramedic replied.

'Sir,' the police intervened, 'you need to…'

'I know,' Bunta interrupted him and, running towards the 2000GT, he jumped on it and started checking the Tokyo guide he had to see where the Kuroda Hospital was. The paramedic was right: it was just a few blocks away but, seeing as the street was blocked, he had to cover half of its length on reverse.

Less than ten minutes later, he was driving up the lane which took him to a relatively modern clinic. He parked his car at the visitor's parking area and, making sure the car was locked, he ran all the way to the reception desk.

'Excuse me,' he said to the nurse there.

'Yes?' she said.

'I've been told my friend is here,' he said while trying to catch his breath, 'his name is Sanada Shin.'

'Okay, let me check,' she said and, going though the registry, she scanned the list of patients and, shaking her head, she said, 'I don't have him on the list.'

'Are you sure?' Bunta asked, 'there's been a gas explosion at his place, the paramedic told me they took the injured here, he has to be here.'

'Oh, that,' the nurse gasped, 'in that case we probably haven't registered him yet since it was a big emergency and we leave those details for later. If you wait here I'll go and see what I can find out.'

'I'll be forever grateful,' Bunta said.

Not-so-patiently, he started pacing up and down the reception area while he waited for the good nurse to come back. She had a very grave expression on her face when she did and that made him fear for the worse. He was on the verge of a nervous breakdown when the lady came towards him and said:

'Your friend is in a pretty bad place right now. We're operating him but we will need to wait until surgery is over to know just how bad he is.'

'But he's alive, right?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' the nurse said, 'he's alive.'

Bunta nodded and was thankful when the nurse, ever-so-helpful, guided him to a nearby chair so that he could take a seat. Only then he felt like someone had punched him on the stomach and he stayed there trying to recover for a few painfully long minutes.

Shin was alive.

Shortly after, he remembered that he had to call Yoshida to let him know and, finding the nearest payphone, he dialled Yoshida's number for the second time that morning. Once again, the Toyota designer answered the phone immediately.

'Bunta?' he said.

'Yes, its me,' Bunta replied.

'Did you find Shin?' he asked him.

'Yes,' Bunta said, 'listen I have bad news.'

Yoshida, hearing them, told Bunta to stay put. He would once again call the organisation and leave yet another message for Hide-san who, by now, would probably be near Yamanashi. He then told Bunta that he would be driving himself to the Kuroda Hospital.

'Don't move from where you are,' Yoshida instructed him.

'Okay,' Bunta replied.

He was once again left without knowing what to do and, deciding it was best if he informed Kumiko, just in case this whole thing somehow made it to the news, he called home again and told his wife about what had happened.

'Do you want me to go there?' she asked him.

'No,' Bunta replied, 'I prefer if you stay home with Eikichi. I might need to stay here overnight.'

'You probably will,' she reasoned, 'but it's a good thing you're packed, right?'

'Yeah,' Bunta said with a dry laugh, 'at least I have a change of clothes.'

'He'll be fine,' she said, 'if the doctors got to him so quickly, there's a good chance he'll pull through it without any problems. We'll just need to wait until the doctors tell us what he has. If you need anything do call us, okay?'

'Of course,' he said.

'And don't worry,' Kumiko added, 'Sanada-san is a very strong man. He'll be okay.'

'I know,' he said when, in reality, he wanted to say "I hope". He then replaced the phone onto its cradle and, staring at it for a while, he passed his hand through his hair and decided to go back to his chair so that he could wait for either the doctors or Yoshida-san, whoever got there first.

In the end, it was Yoshida who showed up. Bunta had been waiting for nearly an hour and a half and no one had come to tell him anything. What was worse was that Bunta didn't even know if Shin wanted them to get in touch with someone. He knew that his team mate had only a mother who lived in England.

'How is he?' Yoshida asked him.

'No idea,' Bunta replied dejectedly.

'I'll go and check,' Yoshida said and, with this, he went to the reception where the same nurse informed him that the doctors would find them as soon as they had something to say to them. Not extremely helpful but at least, Shin was still with them.

'Did you get in touch with Hide-san?' Bunta asked him.

'No,' Yoshida replied, 'I left him a message, I hope the organisation pass it onto him as soon as they see him. Hopefully he'll be able to handle the withdrawal without having to go to the JFA headquarters.'

'Withdrawal?' Bunta asked.

'Of course,' Yoshida said, 'as things are, there's no way we'll make it to the pre-race meeting, is there?'

'No,' Bunta admitted, 'it's impossible.'

'Yeah, Yoshida said.

The two men just remained quiet for a long time until, a few minutes later, they saw an old, almost ridiculously short bespectacled balding man who looked like he'd been through hell and back. He walked towards the reception and the nurse said something to him which made him look at where Yoshida and Bunta were.

Then, walking towards them, he bowed a little and said:

'Hello, I'm Dr Misugi, I heard you're here for that young man from the gas explosion.'

'Yes,' Yoshida said, 'his name is Sanada Shin.'

'We know now,' the doctor replied, 'one of the nurses found a JFA license in one of his pockets.'

'Yes,' Yoshida said, Bunta decided to let him do the talking, 'doctor, how is he?'

The doctor removed his glasses and, pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a deep breath in preparation for what probably was a difficult and lengthy explanation. He said:

'Sanada-san was found under the rubble of his apartment, he had one of those steel beams on top of his body and it was thanks to the fire fighters who were there and who took care that the beam got removed in one go which probably saved his life.'

'And?' Bunta could not help but to ask.

'The beam has fractured his vertebral column at the lumbar region. He also had several internal injuries as well as a broken arm but, overall, he was very lucky.'

'Lucky?' Yoshida asked the doctor unable to hide his incredulity.

'Yes,' an unfazed Dr Misugi replied, 'the spinal chord wasn't damaged, despite the fact that two of the vertebrae were completely dislocated. It was nothing short of a miracle but we've managed to set everything back in place and we're pretty confident that, with the right rehabilitation work, Sanada-san will be able to walk again.'

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'but how long is that going to take?'

'Well,' Dr Misugi said, 'right now, we need to see how he reacts to the operation. After he wakes up from the anaesthetic, we will be able to asses his condition a lot more accurately. What's important now is the next twenty four hours so all we can do is wait and see.'

'Alright,' Yoshida said, 'thank you very much.'

'Yes, thank you,' Bunta repeated.

'You're welcome,' the doctor said, 'I can't let you see him now but I'll make sure the nurses tell you when it's okay for you to visit. Until then, is there any relatives we can warn? There are several forms which need to be filled in.'

'No,' Yoshida said, 'the only relative he has is overseas, I'll take care of everything.'

'Okay,' Dr Misugi said, 'in that case, come with me.'

Bunta was left once again on his own and, sitting back down, he started realising that, not only there was no way they could compete in the Highland Masters Rally but they were probably also out for the rest of the season. At least, he thought trying to be positive, Shin was alive and he would not be paralysed.

Nearly three hours later, Hide-san and the rest of the team showed up at the Kuroda Hospital looking even more worried than what Bunta and Yoshida did. Usually calm Hide-san looked like he was about to cry when he asked Yoshida to brief him about what had happened.

'Oh my gosh,' Akira said hearing it, 'I…I thought…'

'What?' Bunta asked him.

'When I heard we couldn't get in touch with Shin, I thought he was with some girl,' the mechanic confessed.

'You weren't the only one,' Bunta admitted hoping Akira would feel better.

'Yoshida,' Hide-san said, 'I've already warned the JFA about this rally but, shouldn't we just withdraw from the season? I mean…'

'Yes,' Yoshida replied.

'Yoshida-san,' Bunta said, 'I know I'm the last person who should say this but, we could get a replacement until Shin gets better.'

'Would you really be comfortable doing that?' Yoshida challenged.

'Not really,' Bunta accepted.

'No,' Yoshida said, 'thing is, I'm not going to introduce someone else in this team. If I do, we'll miss the whole point behind the creation of this team.'

'What do you mean?' Bunta asked him.

'Bunta,' he explained, 'the reason why you were all hired wasn't because Toyota wanted to win the title or, at least, it wasn't the _only_ reason,' he added seeing Bunta's sceptic look, 'the main reason is because Toyota Technocraft is investing more and more money of its money on building the perfect rallying car.'

'And?' Bunta aked.

'To build the perfect rally car,' Yoshida said, 'we needed the perfect team. You are the ultimate racer, Shin is the best co-pilot and they are the best technical staff we have. If one of these pieces are missing, then we won't have the perfect team so there's little point in trying to continue.'

'But we could win the title this year,' Bunta said.

'Yes,' Yoshida agreed, 'but I'll ask you again: would you be happy winning the title without your co-pilot?'

Bunta knew the answer to that question only too well and, shaking his head, he said:

'Of course not.'

'We always have next year,' Yoshida said, 'and, next year, we will win for sure.'

Once again, Bunta got the distinct impression that Yoshida was a dreamer. The guy really didn't care about the amount of money they had spent on setting up the team and building the car. All Yoshida seemed to care about was with coming up with the pinnacle of perfection in terms of car engineering.

In all honesty, that suited Bunta just fine.

It wasn't as though as he needed the money, after all, his bank account was healthy enough as it was and, having seen first-hand what money could do to someone, he preferred living life the way Yoshida did: worrying a whole lot more about fulfilling one's dreams and aspirations.

A few hours later, Hide-san sent his guys home, excepting Akira who insisted on staying until he could see Shin which didn't happen until the next morning when, a pretty nurse came to find them in the waiting room. She smiled at them and said:

'Dr Misugi said you could see your friend now.'

'Thank you,' Yoshida said stretching a little while he got up from his chair.

Bunta got up too and cracking his stiff neck, he too tried to get his legs working again after having spent most of the night sitting down on a very uncomfortable chair. He, Hide-san and Akira followed Yoshida to where the nurse was taking them and, after a few moments, they were in front of a door.

'Only two at a time,' she said, 'it is important that he doesn't get too tired, so you can only be in there for a few minutes, okay?'

'Sure,' Yoshida replied.

'Good,' she said, 'put these on, just in case,' she added handing them a couple of surgical masks. Bunta did a double-take but, remembering something Kumiko had told him about the importance to keep germs away from a patient who had just been operated, he grabbed it and tried putting it on the best way he could.

Once they were ready, they stepped into the room and what they found wasn't pretty: Shin had a cast on both his right arm and the entire length of his torso and hips. It looked so uncomfortable that it made Bunta wince. He also had his head bandaged and several cuts and bruises.

'Hey,' Bunta said softly.

'Mmm,' was all Shin could manage.

'I'd ask you how you are,' Yoshida said, 'but I think it'd be a silly question.'

'Mmm,' Shin agreed.

Bunta and Yoshida exchanged a quick glance then, Yoshida nodded and let Bunta do the talking.

'Listen,' he said, 'we've decided to withdraw from the championship,' he continued ignoring Shin's weak protest, 'Yoshida's right: I refuse to race if I don't have you on the passenger seat so, we'll wait for you to get better, okay?'

'Mmm,' Shin said.

'Shin,' Yoshida said, 'take your time and get well soon. We'll wait for you so don't worry about anything other than your body. That's the only thing I want you to think about and yes, that's an order.'

Shin looked at Yoshida with a slightly defiant look but then, closing his eyes, he opened them again to show his gratitude. The co-pilot then looked at Bunta and tried a small smile which apparently hurt him somewhere else.

'Don't move idiot,' Bunta said then, a lot more gently, he glanced at Yoshida and added, 'you heard him, take care of your body for now. The Celica and I will be ready whenever you are, okay?'

'Okay,' Shin finally said.

After a few minutes, Bunta and Yoshida were shown out of the room to let Hide-san and Akira pay a quick visit. Then, Yoshida spent a few more minutes taking care of some more paperwork, they all decided that it was best to go home and wait for news.

'I'll come back tomorrow,' Bunta announced.

'Me too,' Akira said.

'We should take it in turns,' Hide-san said, 'I still find it unbelievable he doesn't want us to tell his mother.'

'It's understandable,' Yoshida reasoned, 'after all, she'd be worried sick if she found out and she's too far away to make the trip as fast as she would like to. Also, if Shin thinks it's better that way, we should do what he says.'

'I agree,' Bunta said.

'Alright,' Hide-san accepted.

'I've got to go,' Yoshida said, 'I was supposed to be in a meeting this afternoon and I fear I'm going to be super-late,' then, looking at Hide-san, he said, 'you've taken care of the car, haven't you?'

'Yes,' the team manager said, 'the guys took it back to Saku City. We'll keep it there until we need it again.'

'Good,' Yoshida said, 'Bunta, I'll speak to you soon, okay?'

'Yes,' Bunta said, 'thanks for everything.'

'You're more than welcome, you know that.'

With this, the Toyota designer left them there. Soon after that Bunta found himself back in the 2000GT on his way to Shibukawa, hoping that he would manage to make it back home despite the fact that he hadn't slept properly in over twenty four hours.

Alas, when he parked his car outside the shop, he saw Yuuichi's RX-4 parked there too. Sighing tiredly, Bunta stepped into the house to find four very anxious people who were obviously eager to get the latest update. He explained everything to them doing his best to stay awake.

'Oh,' Kumiko said, 'he really was very lucky.'

'Yeah,' Bunta yawned, 'that's what the doctor said.'

'Anyway,' Yuuichi said, 'this means your team is out of action for at least a few months, right?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied, 'I think that the earliest we'll make it back for is the Hokkaido Rally in February, realistically though, I don't think we'll be good to go till the Kyoto one in May. Right now, we're on leave.'

'Oh,' Yuuichi said looking deep in thought.

'What is it?' Bunta asked him. He really knew his best friend too well.

'You know,' Yuuichi said, 'Nitta-san has asked Masashi to take over his repairs shop.'

'And?' Bunta asked despite knowing what was coming next.

'Since you'll be free…'

'You want me to help him?' Bunta asked.

'If you want,' Yuuichi hurried to say, 'I mean…it'll keep you busy, right?'

'It's an excellent idea,' Eikichi said.

'You reckon?' Bunta asked his uncle.

'Yes,' the old man said, 'I for one don't want you hanging around the house doing nothing and, it'd be a good way to help a friend while keeping your mechanic skills up to the standards you need for your rallying career.'

'That's true,' Bunta admitted.

'So,' Yuuichi said, 'can I tell Masashi that you'll help? He was kind of hoping you would…'

'Okay,' Bunta accepted, 'after all, it's not like I'll have much to do.'

'Great,' Yuuichi said. Then, after asking permission to use the phone, the man called Masashi who, needless to say, was only too happy to have Bunta's help. He was also sorry to hear about Shin and Yuuichi decided that they would all pay the co-pilot a visit soon.

'So,' Bunta said that night while he and Kumiko were lying in bed together, 'I'm a mechanic now.'

'A mechanic, a rally racer, a tofu shop owner,' she enumerated, 'I don't care what you do, as long as you're happy doing it,' she then kissed him on his cheek and, muttering 'good night', she snuggled next to him.

_To be continued…_


	81. Chapter Eighty

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Eighty_

Seven months had gone by since the gas explosion which had caused Shin's long stay at the hospital but, looking at him now, while he skipped down the stairs of the New Mikado Hotel in Kyoto, Bunta would have never believed anyone who told him that up until three months before his co-pilot struggled just to stay upright.

'Hey,' Shin said, 'are we ready to show them what we can do?'

'Of course,' Bunta replied.

The two of them made it to the parc ferme where they saw the rest of their reunited team, standing by their beloved Celica. Bunta had been dying to test it out on a real race, especially since Yoshida had announced that his friend Katayama had installed a brand new engine.

'How is everything?' Bunta asked Akira.

'Looking rosy,' the mechanic said, 'I only hope that this season you'll let me do my job.'

'I'll do my best,' Bunta replied with a cheeky smile.

Akira shook his head while Hide-san patted his shoulder trying to somehow comfort him. Then, out of nowhere, they saw Murakami and Nishimoto. The pair had won the Hokkaido Rally and, despite the fact they had not won the previous championship, having gone to the Orioka/Tegoshi pair in their Datsun Violet, Bunta knew that the Subaru team was still the one to beat.

For this reason, Shin and Bunta had decided to win, not only this one but also the Monterrey Rally in Gunma for, if they did that, their chances of winning the championship would be excellent, even if they had missed the inaugural race of the 1978 season.

'So,' Bunta said while they were onboard the Celica, getting ready to leave the parc ferme, 'what's the itinerary like for the day?'

'Reasonably easy,' Shin said, 'we have the Kyoto-Kameoka part again but, after that, they have a new sector along the Route 9 which, I've been told, has just been redone so the tarmac is sparking new.'

'Great,' Bunta said.

'Bad news is that tomorrow we have double Kiyosaka Pass again,' Shin said, 'and, by the looks of it, the City Council used your letter as recycling paper.'

'I have a confession to make,' Bunta said.

'You never wrote it, did you?' a smirking Shin asked then, seeing his team mate shaking his head, he said, 'I didn't think you would. Besides, somehow I think they wouldn't have done anything about it. The JFA needs to have some nasty roads to torture us with.'

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed, 'otherwise, it wouldn't be fun, right?'

'Exactly,' Shin said then, as an after thought, he said, 'you know…I have something to tell you.'

'What is it?' Bunta asked him.

'Er…'

'What?' Bunta asked again.

'I'm kind of engaged,' Shin confessed using a low tone of voice.

'You're what?' Bunta asked raising his eyebrows in surprise.

'Yeah,' Shin said, 'it looks like I'm going to have to give my freedom up.'

'Who's the hero?' Bunta asked him.

'You won't believe me,' Shin replied.

'Try me,' Bunta challenged.

'Do you remember that girl in rehab?' Shin said.

'The nurse who kept telling you off?' Bunta asked.

'Yeah,' Shin said, 'no idea why but I can't live without her anymore. I proposed to her last week and she said she'd think about it,' he explained, 'which is why, I'm only kind-of engaged. You think she'll say yes?'

'To be honest,' Bunta said, 'I hope for her she says no,' then seeing Shin's murderous expression, he quickly added, 'but I think she'll say yes. Nurses tend to be quite masochistic.'

'Personal experience?' Shin asked sardonically.

'Very much so,' Bunta replied with a sheepish smile.

'Speaking of which,' Shin said, 'isn't your wife supposed to give birth any minute now?'

'Yeah,' Bunta said with a worried tone, 'in fact, she was supposed to give birth three days ago. Dr Kimura said that a slight delay is normal but I'm terrified she might be going into labour as we speak. That baby…it looks like its not too interested about coming to this world.'

'Can you blame him?' Shin said laughing, 'he's going to have you as father.'

'I'll have you to know,' Bunta said, 'that I'll be a great father and, it's a she.'

'What?'

'The baby is a girl,' Bunta said, 'I'm sure of it.'

'Okay,' Shin said not sounding convinced.

'And,' Bunta added, 'before you make any more comments on my capabilities as a father, remember who is driving the car.'

'I was just joking,' Shin said, this time sounding slightly scared.

'Well, I'm not,' Bunta said seriously.

'Whoa,' Shin gasped, 'take it easy Bunta. You will be a terrific father so, don't worry about it so much, okay?'

'Yeah,' Bunta replied.

The co-pilot observed him for a while and, seeing Bunta's slightly less than cool attitude, he decided that the poor guy was probably rather anxious about his upcoming fatherhood so, very wisely and at least while they were onboard the Celica, he decided to focus his energies on his job as navigator, silently praying so that Bunta's wife would not decide to give birth within the next three days.

On day two, Bunta woke up at four o'clock in the morning panicking slightly when he heard the phone ringing. He launched himself to it and, with his voice loaded with angst, he said:

'Kumiko?'

'No,' the receptionist said, 'this is your wake up call.'

'Ah,' Bunta gasped, 'did anyone call for me?'

'Not in the past hour,' the receptionist replied with an extremely patient tone of voice.

'Okay,' Bunta said, 'let me know if anyone calls.'

'We will,' the receptionist said, 'just as we promised we would.'

'Good,' he said, 'thanks.'

He then hanged up and, sitting on his bed, he passed a hand across his messy mop of hair. He knew well that he was being rather irrational about this but he really was hating the fact that he was in Kyoto while Kumiko could be giving birth to their child.

'Calm down,' he ordered himself.

Breathing deeply a few times, he decided that it was useless to worry so much and, taking his pyjamas off, he stepped onto the shower and let the lukewarm water do its job. Ten minutes later and feeling infinitely more relaxed, Bunta got into his racing suit and went downstairs to meet with the rest of the team.

'Good morning,' Shin said.

'Is it?' Bunta asked.

'You're here,' Shin replied, 'so this means that your boy is still where he's been for the past nine months.'

'For now,' Bunta said, 'and I said it's a girl.'

'Of course it is,' Shin accepted smiling in a most patronising manner. Bunta decided to ignore him and, soon after that, they were again on their way to the Kiyosaka Pass where, he hoped, he would get the distraction he needed in order to stop thinking of his still unborn child.

At the starting line, they waited for the JFA official's all-clear.

'GO!' he shouted.

Bunta didn't need to be told twice and, flooring the accelerator, he sent the Celica climbing up the mountain pass, noticing how the state of the tarmac looked even worse than it had done the previous year. He saw that a few of the holes which had been fairly shallow, were quickly becoming mini-craters and it was nothing short of miraculous that they managed to make it half way through the pass without getting the tyres into one of them.

'Sharp one coming up,' Shin said, 'lower to second and stay to the left.'

Complying with his co-pilot instructions, he did just that but, just as he touched the steering wheel to veer leftwards, he felt the car skid onto something. Before he had time to think of what it could be, they got the front right tyre trapped onto one of the many depressions of the track.

'Shit,' Bunta muttered.

Leaving the steering wheel alone, he decided to focus on his footwork, hoping that by redistributing the weight to the other three tyres, they could avoid a repeat of the incident which had cost them the race in the previous years.

'Easy…' he heard Shin mutter.

Bunta ignored him and, just after the entry of the sharp left-hander, he managed to get the car back on the line he needed. It had been too close for comfort and he let out a long breath, hoping he'd release some of the tension. He didn't really like the pass but he knew Shin's assessment was right: the JFA probably wanted to test their skills by making them drive on a pass where no one sane would even dream of racing.

'Did we make it?' Bunta asked his co-pilot once they crossed the finish line.

'Yes,' Shin, 'no idea how, but we've nailed it.'

'Thank goodness,' Bunta said, 'please tell me we won't have to come back in here.'

'Nope,' Shin said, 'now we're off to Mt Ponpon and after that we'll have that gorgeous Noma Pass.'

'That's what I wanted to hear,' Bunta said.

They closed the day topping the timing charts and, leaving the Celica behind, both Bunta and Shin bumped into Murakami and his co-pilot Nishimoto. Murakami smiled at Bunta and, glancing at the scoreboard, he said:

'I see you're back in action.'

'Yes,' Bunta said.

'And coming back with style,' Murakami added.

'Is there any other way?' Shin challenged.

'The season is long,' Nishimoto pointed out.

'It is,' Bunta said, 'so, keep it up.'

With a smirk, Murakami nodded once and, saluting Bunta with two fingers placed onto his temple, he made a gesture to Nishimoto so that the co-pilot would follow him back to the hotel. Bunta felt, once again, that he really would have loved racing those two in a proper one-on-one race. He had the feeling that it would be a close call but was fairly confident that no matter who he raced, he'd always do his best to beat them.

The third day was a relatively easy one, despite the fact that it was raining slightly. They didn't have to go anywhere near the Kiyosaka Pass so Bunta was very happy. He was even happier when the organisation announced that for the last special stage of the race, they would be driving on a short street circuit they had build on the old industrial park just outside Kyoto City and, once they arrived there, Bunta was instantly reminded of his first street race ever.

'What are you smiling about?' Shin asked him when they drove towards the start line.

'Nothing you'd understand,' Bunta replied.

'Okay,' Shin said, 'whatever you say. I take you're confident driving around buildings.'

Bunta smirked and, giving a superior look at his co-pilot, he said:

'You better check that seatbelt of yours is properly fastened.'

More eager than ever, Bunta waited impatiently till the JFA official gave them the all clear and, taking off, he launched the car along a wide lane made of old tarmac and sand. He didn't even need Shin's instructions when he told him where to break and which gear to select since he knew just the best way to attack those ninety-degree turns.

'Whoaaa!' he heard Shin whimper.

At the following turn, he turned the steering wheel just fractionally, played with the pedals and sent the car into a perfect drift which put them right in the correct position to keep driving at the following straight. Bunta even had the time to think that, compared to the Old Harbour's one, this circuit was easy.

In the end, their car crossed the finish line clocking one minute and two seconds. Precisely the time the organisation had predicted it would take for any car to complete the course. Bunta had to repress the urge to turn his car around and do it all again.

'We've done it!' Shin shouted, 'we've really done it!'

'Of course we have,' Bunta said.

'I can't believe it,' Shin said, 'seriously. Seven months ago I thought my life was over….and now…'

'Hey,' Bunta said frowning, 'don't get emotional on me, it's disgusting.'

'Shut up,' Shin said smiling happily.

Their team was more than eager to celebrate their victory and, once again, Bunta had the feeling that racing was what he had been born to do. That thought made him remember his wife Kumiko and their unborn child and, excusing himself with Hide-san, he told Shin he was leaving right now.

'What about the trophy?' he asked.

'Ah,' Bunta grunted, 'let's do this quickly, I really, really want to go.'

'Alright,' Shin said. The two of them hurried to the podium where they were joined by the Murakami/Nishimoto pair who came in second and the Orioka/Tegoshi one who were third. Bunta thought that the ceremony lasted outrageously long and, right at the instant the photographers had managed to snap a couple of pictures, he decided it was enough.

'Fujiwara-san,' one of the journalists said, 'what do you…'

'Look,' Bunta said, 'it's nothing personal but, right now, I have something really important to do.'

With that, he just ran back to the car and, climbing onto it, he drove it back to the parc ferme leaving Shin and the rest of the team behind. He then parked the Celica and, running again to the hotel, he grabbed his bag from his room and was onboard a Shinkansen on its way to Takasaki just fifteen minutes later.

Feeling as restless as he did, he didn't even think of calling home using the payphone the modern train came equipped with. Instead, he paced up and down the corridors, hoping that the train would manage to get to destination even earlier than expected.

Once at Takasaki, he ran towards his 2000GT which he'd left parked there three days before and, within less than ten minutes, he was already entering the street where the Fujiwara Tofu Shop was. Bunta was about to pull over to the side so that he could park the car when he saw Eikichi helping a heavily pregnant Kumiko out of the door.

'Bunta,' he said, 'don't stop the car.'

'What…'

'It's time,' he said.

That made Bunta jump out of the car and, opening the passenger's side, he did his best to help Kumiko climb inside the car. He damned himself for not having listened Yuuichi when his best friend told him to get a more family-oriented car since the 2000GT was way too low for a pregnant lady.

'Are you okay?' he asked his wife. What a stupid question, he thought to himself.

'I'll be better once I'm at the hospital,' Kumiko replied nonetheless.

He was in awe hearing the calm tone of her voice. She seemed to be in perfect control which was the exact opposite of how he felt. Bunta nodded and, looking at Eikichi with a slightly panicked expression on his face, he was going to speak when Eikichi said:

'Off you go, I'll follow you in the Bellett.'

'Okay,' Bunta said.

He climbed back into his car and, making sure he drove as smoothly as possible, he made it out of the street and onto the interstate which would be the fastest way to get his wife to the Shibukawa General Hospital.

'How is it going?' he managed to ask her.

'It's okay,' Kumiko said, 'I have them every ten minutes.'

'Is that good?' Bunta asked her.

'Yes,' she replied then, one of the contractions hit her and he saw her grabbing the edges of her seat in an attempt to control the pain. That made him press the accelerator even lower seeing that, for once, he had a very legitimate reason to go beyond the speed limits.

They got to the hospital's entrance just a few minutes later and, thankfully, it was Dr Kimura herself who was there to get Kumiko checked in. Bunta helped her and one of his wife's colleagues get her out the car and seated on a wheelchair.

'How long?' the doctor asked him.

'It started early this afternoon,' Kumiko supplied.

'I just got home,' Bunta explained and Dr Kimura nodded in understanding.

'Alright,' the doctor said, 'you need to stay here.'

'But…'

'Don't worry,' she said, 'I can assure you we'll do our utmost to make sure everything goes well.'

'I'll be fine,' Kumiko added.

'O-okay,' Bunta stuttered. He hadn't felt any more useless in his whole life and, standing there, he watched as his wife was wheeled through a door by Dr Kimura, with two nurses listening to all the instructions the doctor was already giving out.

'Where's she?'

He turned round and saw Eikichi running into the hospital's entrance. The old man looked flustered and that made Bunta worry about his weak heart. Doing his best to get a grasp of himself, he looked at his uncle and said:

'They've taken her in, I think the only thing we can do now is wait.'

'Okay,' Eikichi said.

'You better sit down,' Bunta said, 'you shouldn't run like that, you know?'

'Don't be silly,' Eikichi said, 'I wouldn't miss this moment for anything. I still can't believe I'm getting to see the birth of the fourth generation of our family here in Shibukawa. It's a pretty important day.'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'I can't wait to see what she looks like.'

'You're still convinced that it's a girl?' Eikichi asked.

'Of course,' Bunta said, 'Atsumi will be as cute as her mother.'

'If you say so,' Eikichi replied then, sitting down, he glanced at a nearby payphone and said, 'you better call that Yuuichi brat and his wife, if they miss this they'll never forgive you.'

Nodding, Bunta went to the payphone and, lifting the receiver, he dialled his best friend's number.

'Tachibana residence,' he heard Fuka's voice.

'Fuka,' he said, 'it's happening, where's Yuuichi?'

'He's at work,' Fuka replied sounding suddenly excited, 'you're at the General, right?'

'Of course,' Bunta said.

'We'll be there in a tick,' Fuka replied and, with that, she hanged up the phone. Bunta replaced the receiver too and, walking back to where Eikichi was, he tried sitting down for a bit, hoping that they would get some news soon. Yuuichi and Fuka got there before they got any update and, seeing as this was probably going to be a long wait, Fuka offered to go and get some drinks.

'What can I get you?' she asked Bunta.

'Nothing,' he said.

Deciding the poor man was too nervous to care about any beverages, Fuka just got a bottle of water for herself and a couple of cans of juice for her husband and Eikichi who, once again, complained about the fact that hospitals should have much stronger stuff than that, considering how nervous everyone got there.

'You know you're not allowed to drink, Eikichi-san,' Fuka reminded him.

Getting up from his chair, Bunta started pacing up and down the waiting room, feeling that, with every minute he waited there, his life was shortened by at least an hour. He really had never felt more anxious in his whole life and he would have killed to get some information about what was going on with his wife.

'What's taking them so long?' he complained.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said using what he hoped was a soothing tone of voice, 'she's giving birth, it usually takes a long time. I remember when…'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta said.

'Yes?'

'Shut up,' Bunta replied.

He then reassumed his pacing and just when he was beginning to think of storming into the childbirth room, he saw Dr Kimura looking a little tired but very happy. What was more important, she had a little baby in her arms and that made Bunta's heart skip a couple of heartbeats: that little thing was his daughter.

'Congratulations,' the good doctor said, 'it's a boy.'

Bunta did a double take.

'What?' he managed to ask.

'It's a boy,' Dr Kimura repeated, 'a very healthy one.'

'Ah,' Bunta gasped. He had lost his ability to form coherent sentences. A boy. He had a son. He had, 'Takumi,' he muttered, he nodded when the doctor made a gesture to ask him if he wanted to hold the baby. Then, with extreme care, Dr Kimura placed little Takumi in his arms and, for the first time, Bunta saw the face of his baby son. He was the cutest thing alive and Bunta felt that his heart warming up.

He was a father.

'Are you okay?' he somehow heard Eikichi ask.

'Eh?'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said, 'I know you wanted a girl.'

'What are you talking about?' Bunta asked with a silly smile starting to curve his lips, 'he's perfect.'

'But…'

'Look at him,' Bunta said, 'isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen?'

'Yes,' Fuka said, 'he is,' then, something made her add, 'but he's a boy, you know that, right?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied looking at her as if she had suddenly lost her marbles, 'he's perfect,' he repeated.

'Okay,' Yuuichi said then, exchanging a look with Eikichi and Fuka, they all agreed that, for once, they would just let it go, after all, it was a truly happy event and it didn't really matter if they had been right about the baby's gender all along. He also decided that he could use that later as a recurrent joke to pull on Bunta.

'Can I see my wife?' the new father asked all of a sudden.

'Of course,' Dr Kimura said, 'she's just being moved to her room but I'm sure she'll be happy to see you.'

'She did great, didn't she?' he asked the doctor.

'She did brilliantly,' Dr Kimura said sounding proud, 'I wish all my patients did as well as she did.'

Bunta looked like he'd grown taller again all of a sudden and, refusing to let go of his baby son, he followed the doctor while she took him to Kumiko's room. Yuuichi and his wife found each other's hands and Eikichi suddenly felt like he wanted to go outside so that he could cry in peace.

'Hey,' Kumiko said seeing her husband coming into her room.

'How are you feeling?' he asked her.

'I'm alright,' she replied with her usual honesty, 'it's a boy,' she said glancing at the baby he was carrying.

'I know,' Bunta said then, finally handing Takumi back to his mother, he sat down onto the bed as carefully as possible, 'I've known all along it was a boy, I just kept saying it was a girl not to jinx it.'

'Are you serious?' Kumiko asked him.

'Yep,' Bunta replied.

'So typical of you,' she said shaking her head then, she looked at their son and said, 'he's cute, isn't he?'

'Yes,' Bunta said seriously then, taking a rectangular black box out of his pocket, he gave it to her and said, 'I've been carrying this for nearly a month. I…well, do you remember when we talked about having kids during our honeymoon?'

'Of course,' Kumiko replied.

'I got you this right after that at the museum shop,' he said, 'open it.'

Passing Takumi back onto his arms, she took the box in her hands and, opening it, she saw a beautiful necklace made of pearls and a rather big acquamarina serving as clasp. Kumiko's eyes opened as wide as they went and, looking at her husband with a shocked expression on her face, she said:

'That's…'

'Your present,' Bunta said, 'for this,' he said lifting Takumi a little bit, 'and for having put up with me for a whole year. Happy anniversary.'

'Oh,' Kumiko said, 'that's right, it was our anniversary last week. I thought you…'

'Forgot?' Bunta supplied, 'no, I wanted to give you this when Takumi would be born but,' he stopped and looked at his baby boy, 'you've surely taken your time to come to our lives, haven't you?'

'He indeed has,' Kumiko said with a little laugh, 'to be honest I was beginning to think he couldn't be bothered to make the effort.'

'You're a lazy baby, aren't you?' Bunta asked Takumi who half-opened his eyes, only to close them again. Bunta found that funny and, laughing softly, he placed his son back into Kumiko's arms so that he could help her put her necklace on. It looked a bit weird and out of place with her hospital gown but she insisted on wearing it so that everyone could see it.

Four days later, Kumiko and Takumi were finally discharged from the hospital and, helping them into the 2000GT, he went around to seat behind its steering wheel unable to wait to see the baby's reaction when he heard the engine's roar for the first time ever. Inserting the key into the ignition, he watched his son carefully. He turned the engine on and…nothing.

'What?' Kumiko asked him seeing Bunta's frown.

Bunta pressed the accelerator revving the car a bit but that didn't seem to trigger anything in little Takumi.

'Is he alright?' he asked his wife.

'Of course he is,' Kumiko said now frowning too.

'Oh,' Bunta said then, deciding that maybe the baby boy needed the car to move, he selected the first gear and started rolling the car down the lane which led to the hospital. Bunta glanced at his son again and, just then, the baby gave a little yawn and, right then, he closed his eyes and fell asleep, 'weird,' Bunta muttered.

'What is it?' Kumiko asked.

'He's sleeping,' Bunta pointed out.

'Oh, you're right,' Kumiko whispered.

'How can he sleep while he's riding a Toyota 2000GT?' Bunta asked sounding slightly shocked.

Kumiko let out a soft chuckle and said:

'Bunta, he's too small to care, wait until he grows up a little.'

'If you say so,' a disheartened Bunta replied. Then, in his head, he started coming up with some ideas to get his baby son interested in cars. He almost wished the boy would have a sudden growth sprout so that he could teach him to drive and began getting excited just thinking about it. Parenthood, Bunta decided, was the ultimate adrenaline rush.

_To be continued…_


	82. Chapter Eighty One

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Eighty One_

For the second time in the five minutes Bunta had been driving the black Toyota Carina 2000GT up Mt Akina, Yuuichi saw two month old Takumi yawn then, slowly, the baby closed his eyes falling asleep as he usually did whenever riding a car.

'I can't believe this,' Bunta said glancing at the rear view mirror.

'It's normal, you know?' Yuuichi commented, 'I read somewhere that babies find the rumbling of car's engines soothing and that makes them fall asleep.'

'Yeah but…'

'What's _not _normal it's you,' Yuuichi interrupted him then, eyeing the brand new car they were currently driving, he said, 'what do you think about this one? Do you like it?'

'Mmm…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said a tad impatiently, 'we've tried what, four different cars?'

'More or less,' Bunta admitted.

'I know what you're doing,' Yuuichi accused him.

'What?' Bunta asked all-too-innocently.

'You're just trying to find excuses not to get rid of the 2000GT but, seriously, there are _no _cars like that one anymore. They just don't build them like they used to.'

'Yeah,' Bunta complained, 'that's the problem, you see.'

'I get what you're saying,' Yuuichi commented, 'I mean, that car of yours is a true racing machine and nothing will ever compare to it but, seriously,' he said glancing at the sleeping Takumi, 'now that you have a family you really need at least four seats.'

'I know,' Bunta grunted, revving the car's engine up not really liking how dull it sounded.

'I'm already settling for this one,' Yuuichi said, 'it's not even a true four-seater, it's, at best, a two plus two. But since it's also called 2000GT I thought you would like it.'

'Nah,' Bunta replied, 'a car needs to be a whole lot more than a nametag.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi accepted, 'let's just try the car and don't form an opinion until we get up there, you promise?'

'Yes,' Bunta replied sounding a little like a five year old.

'Good,' a slightly happier Yuuichi replied, 'honestly, to think I'm volunteering for this.'

Bunta smirked at that and, glancing again at his sleeping baby son, he decided that he'd really do his best to make him wake up so, tightening his grasp on the steering wheel, he decided to start driving seriously and, at the very next corner, he performed a four wheel inertia drift.

'Bunta!' Yuuichi whimpered.

He then tried to grasp himself onto whatever he found while he nervously looked at the back seat where, needless to say, baby Takumi was still sleeping as peacefully as if he was in his cradle at home. That made him consider the chance that maybe, just maybe, the baby boy wasn't all that normal either.

'It's so slow it makes me want to cry,' he then heard Bunta complain.

Yuuichi shook his head in desperation thinking that it was he who had every reason to burst into tears.

Meanwhile, back at the Fujiwara Tofu Shop, Kumiko had just got home from her afternoon shift when, hearing the phone ringing and knowing that Eikichi was probably sleeping, she ran to grab the receiver.

'Fujiwara Tofu Shop,' she answered.

'Hi,' Fuka said, 'you're home!'

'Yes,' Kumiko replied, 'just got in.'

'Good,' Fuka said, 'listen, I know Yuuichi and Bunta are busy trying out that new car.'

'Yes, I know,' Kumiko said, 'I swear, if Bunta keeps being so picky, he'll never find a replacement for the 2000GT. I even went ahead and suggested a car I saw on a magazine, it's called Cressida or something like that.'

'Oh, I know that model,' Fuka commented, 'it's a Toyota too, right?'

'I think so,' Kumiko replied, 'Bunta said that he was definitely _not _buying what he thought was an old man's car. I know I don't really understand much about cars but it looked quite decent to me.'

'It's a nice car,' Fuka agreed, 'but let's face it, it's a tad too conservative for someone like your husband.'

'True,' Kumiko said.

'Anyway,' Fuka said, 'I was calling you to see if you wanted to go out for a coffee after I finish work, it's been ages since us two had the chance to catch up.'

'Oh, that'd be a good idea,' Kumiko considered, 'they've taken Takumi with them so I'm free to go wherever you want.'

'Splendid,' Fuka said, 'I finish at five, where do you want to meet?'

'The station?' Kumiko suggested, 'we could go to our usual café, what do you think?'

'That's great,' Fuka replied, 'I'll see you there.'

'Yes,' Kumiko said. Then, hanging up the phone, she went upstairs to hers and Bunta's bedroom so that she could get changed. It was half past three so she still had a good hour to get some of the housework done and she was thinking that she needed to get the sheets of Takumi's cradle changed when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something which definitely should not be there: Takumi's bag.

Kumiko briefly considered waking Eikichi up to ask him if he could drive up Mt Akina and find Bunta when, remembering she had her driving license too, she took the bag from under the cradle and her own handbag. She then went downstairs, grabbed the keys to the 2000GT and, putting her shoes back on, she walked out of the shop.

Opening the driver's door, Kumiko climbed into her husband's pride and joy and, feeling suddenly afraid, she took a deep breath and reminded herself that her son would soon need to be fed so she couldn't waste time thinking that, after all, she had never driven this car on her own.

Meanwhile, back at Mt Akina's parking area, Bunta was busy testing the braking limits of the Carina while Yuuichi busied himself trying to keep baby Takumi entertained. That turned out to be surprisingly easy: Bunta and Kumiko were very lucky that their son didn't seem to cry anywhere near as much as other babies.

'You're a good boy, aren't you?'

Takumi just stared at him with the sort of vacant stare which made him look so much like his mother. Yuuichi laughed softly and then, he tried making him stand up putting his little feet on top of his own knees. That seemed to make Takumi worried and a little angry frown appeared on his face.

'Okay,' Yuuichi said sitting him back down, 'sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset.'

A screeching sound made him glance at the Carina and he saw that Bunta had just made the car come to a complete stop after trying only-goodness-knew-what. Yuuichi shook his head and went to look back at Takumi when he saw that the baby's expression was still a rather unhappy one.

'Hey,' Yuuichi said softly, 'what's wrong?'

That, he decided, was a rather stupid question to ask a baby who could not speak. For this reason, Yuuichi started checking the baby, first to see if he was warmer than normal. Then, he thought that the baby was thirsty, after all, it was July and the air was hot and sticky. He looked around himself looking for the bag Kumiko had always prepared for their baby son.

It wasn't there.

Deciding that it was probably inside the car, he carefully got up and, making sure his grasp on the baby was firm enough, he walked to where Bunta was and, making a gesture with his arm, he got his best friend to stop. Bunta made the car come to a complete halt right next to Yuuichi demonstrating once again his perfect level of control over anything which had four tyres.

'What's wrong?' he asked after rolling the window down.

'I think Takumi's thirsty,' Yuuichi said, 'pass me the bag.'

Bunta nodded and started looking around the car. He raised his eyebrows when he saw that it wasn't anywhere to be seen then, frowning, he realised that they'd probably left it back home. Feeling angry at himself for having overlooked something as important as that, he said:

'Are you sure he's only thirsty?'

'I don't know,' Yuuichi said, 'I think so though.'

Turning off the engine, Bunta climbed out of the car and, taking his son in his arms, he smelled him the way he'd seen Kumiko do. That simple gesture made it very clear to him that what Takumi needed wasn't a drink of water, it was a fresh nappy.

'We have a problem,' Bunta declared very seriously.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi agreed.

Getting back in the car, Yuuichi tried to get little Takumi as comfortable as possible. Then, the two men fastened their seatbelts and they started driving down Mt Akina. They were going so fast that they failed to see a couple of incoming cars driving up. In his haste to get his baby son cleaned up as soon as possible, Bunta seemed set on breaking his own downhill record.

They were about to cover the five hairpins and get to the fastest part of the course, when Yuuichi noticed that Takumi was sleeping again. That made him chuckle as well as feel better since, the fact that the baby could still manage to fall asleep meant that he probably wasn't feeling as gooey as Yuuichi feared.

'What the…' he heard Bunta say and, an instant later, the Carina stopped.

'What's wrong?' Yuuichi asked.

Without replying to his question, Bunta got out of the car. At first, Yuuichi followed him with his eyes but, seeing what Bunta had already noticed made him get out of the car too. Part of the guardrail which covered one of the cliffs of Mt Akina had been snatched away and was now bent downwards.

Yuuichi knew that that part of the guardrail looked fine when they were driving up so it had to be something fairly recent. Walking towards where Bunta stood, he also noticed the tale-tell signs of an accident: coloured pieces of plastic scattered across the tarmac and the marks of tyres as they tried to stop the car.

'Bunta…' he started saying.

'No way,' he heard him mutter.

'Bunta?'

'No…'

'Bunta!' Yuuichi exclaimed getting very worried. He closed the distance between himself and his best friend who was standing right by the cliff's edge. Then, looking at what Bunta was staring with a bewildered expression on his face, Yuuichi saw something which his brain seemed unable to compute.

The Toyota 2000GT.

Staring at the car smashed sidewise onto one of the trees down below, the two friends found themselves unable to do anything for a few interminable minutes then, very slowly, Bunta turned to face Yuuichi with such a terrible expression on his face that Yuuichi was sure he would never forget for as long as he lived.

'Go and get help!' Bunta cried.

'Bunta…'

'GET HELP!' he shouted.

Without arguing further, Yuuichi climbed back into the car, this time onto the driver's seat and, not even wanting to think of what Bunta was about to do, he just drove down and for the first time in his life, he hoped he would find a police car along the way.

Meanwhile, in what was nothing short of a suicide, Bunta decided to hang himself off the cliff and try and make it down the steep and rocky drop so that he could somehow reach what it was clearly his beloved Toyota. He hurt himself several times in the process and, at some point, he even felt his trousers tearing as they got nicked by the branch of a tree.

He didn't care.

His brain quickly going into overload and he refused to think of who could be driving the car since the answer to that question scared him too much. Instead, he started thinking where in the hell would Yuuichi go to get help and he hoped his friend would have the good sense of stopping at the nearest payphone.

Making a last effort, using the branch of another tree as a leverage, he managed to finally get closer to the car and it was then when he noticed something really weird: there was a huge dent on the back of it. As if the car had crashed backwards first before dropping down the cliff. It didn't make any sense. To Bunta, nothing made sense anymore.

He noticed that the driver's side had been entirely crushed by the impact against the tree. Because of this, and he tried seeing if the car would cope with his weight and, half lying on top of what was the passenger's side, he saw inside the car what his brain had desperately been trying to block for him.

'Kumiko,' he breathed in fear.

Terrified at not getting a reaction from his wife, he snatched the door open and, trying to get himself inside the badly damaged car, he tried touching his wife's hand. It was still warm and it made her open her eyes.

'Kumiko,' he said, 'thank goodness.'

'Bunta,' he heard her whimper.

'It's okay,' Bunta said, 'Yuuichi's gone to get help, we'll get you out of here in no time.'

'A star,' he heard her say.

'What?' Bunta asked.

'I saw a star,' she repeated trying to make her voice sound louder, this made her cough and wince.

'Don't talk,' Bunta ordered, 'we need to get you out of here,' he added then, fighting with himself to remain as calm as humanly possible, he asked, 'where are you hurt?'

'Bunta,' she repeated, 'the car had a star.'

'What are you talking about idiot?' he said beginning to get impatient.

'It pushed me,' she finally said then, she seemed to get weaker all of a sudden making Bunta panic even more. He felt the muscles of his stomach contract painfully while he watched his wife drifting into unconsciousness, 'the star…'

'Kumiko,' Bunta cried, 'stop talking.'

'I love you so much,' she said and it was clear that she was no longer paying attention to what he said.

'Kumiko…'

'Takumi,' she whispered and then, he saw her head lolling sideways, following gravity's direction. That made Bunta lose what little calmness he had. Fighting desperately with the car's seatbelt so that he could free his wife's body from it. Unfortunately, his hands were trembling so much that it took him ages before he completed the operation.

An eternity later, he managed to get her out of the car and it was then when he saw it: there was a huge splinter embedded onto the side of her neck. It was probably coming from the very tree the 2000GT had crashed against and, glancing at the driver's side window, he saw that it was broken.

Not caring about the car anymore Bunta returned his attention to his wife.

He tried to remember what little she had taught him about first aid and, placing two shaky fingers onto her neck, he hoped he would find a pulse. He did, but it was very weak. He knew that unless Yuuichi go there soon with professional help, it would be too late to save her.

'No,' he muttered refusing to accept that possibility.

Bunta tried to get them higher so that he could make Kumiko lie somewhere flatter but, knowing it would only hurt her more, he decided to settle for just trying to make her as comfortable as possible. He stayed like that for the next few minutes, all the while trying to think of what to do.

'Bunta,' he heard her whisper weakly.

'Kumiko,' he said, he then decided that her voice was the best sound in the world.

'I…' she tried.

'Shush,' he said, 'don't talk, please Kumiko, don't talk.'

'That star,' she repeated.

'I get it,' Bunta whispered furiously, 'don't worry about it anymore. Please, don't waste your energies.'

'I was so afraid,' she insisted.

'I know,' Bunta replied, 'but please…'

'I'm sorry,' she then said, 'Eikichi-san…'

'What about him?' Bunta couldn't help but to ask.

'Takumi's bag…'

Then Bunta's half-numb brain started putting some of the pieces of this sick puzzle together: finding the bag home, she had wanted to bring it to them taking the 2000GT instead of asking Eikichi to do it for her. He could not believe that something as stupid as that had caused something as horrible as this.

'Don't worry,' Bunta repeated, 'I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself for leaving it home in the first place.'

'But your car,' she muttered.

'Screw that,' Bunta said, 'it's just a car. You…'

He couldn't finish the sentence. He looked at his wife again and noticed how her face looked even paler than it did before. He knew she was losing a lot of blood but he didn't have a clue about what he could do to stop it. He thought of removing his shirt but that would mean letting Kumiko's body go and she would probably roll down the mountain.

'Kumiko,' he then asked in agony, 'tell me what I can do to help, please, I don't know what to do.'

Kumiko looked up at him and smiling, she said:

'Just hold me.'

'Kumiko,' he said impatiently, 'you really need to tell me what to do.'

'Hold me,' she repeated.

An utterly desperate Bunta did what she wanted him to do and, being as careful as possible, he hugged her while adjusting his feet so that he could get a firmer hold onto the steep surface where they were. He then started praying for so many things at once, promising the world if Kumiko made it out of there alive.

Ten minutes later, he heard a siren.

Looking up he also saw, very high up, Yuuichi and a few other people standing there. His best friend was calling out his name. Before answering to him, Bunta looked at his wife and, shaking her gently, he said:

'Kumiko, help's here.'

He got no response from her. Shaking her a little harder, he repeated:

'Kumiko, wake up, help's here.'

With something nasty tying a knot on his throat, he placed his fingers onto the unhurt side of her neck. This time, he felt nothing. Pressing harder, he still didn't get her pulse. He then tried seeing if she was breathing and, to his horror, his hand didn't feel any air coming out of her nose or mouth.

'No,' he heard himself say with a very weird voice, 'no, come on, Kumiko wake up.'

Right at that moment, the world stopped for Bunta. His brain kept sending him a message which was clearly impossible. He simply refused to believe that his wife was dead. That was just too stupid to be true. Immersed in his own despair, he failed to notice when two fire fighters managed to reach them. Or when one of them started speaking to him.

He only noticed when the other tried to get Kumiko away from him.

'DON'T TOUCH HER,' he shouted viciously, 'don't touch her,' he repeated. He kept on saying that until the other fire fighter, probably understanding what was going on, shook his head to his colleague.

'Sir,' he said, 'we need to get you back up.'

'No,' Bunta refused stubbornly.

'Sir,' the fire fighter pleaded.

Bunta looked at him and somehow realised that the poor guy was just trying to do his job. Somewhere in his brain, the only part which was still more or less functional made him understand that there was no way they could not stay down there and, very slowly, he nodded.

'Thank you,' the fire fighter said.

The process to get them all back up was a long and strenuous one and, by the time Kumiko's body was in the ambulance, the paramedics there only confirmed what Bunta's brain already knew but that he'd refused to acknowledge: his wife was dead.

'Oh no,' Bunta somehow heard Yuuichi say.

He didn't care. He had stopped caring about everything. He even let the paramedics load him into the ambulance too and give him some injection which, according to them, was going to help him sleep. He felt oddly grateful for that and hoped with every fibre of his being that he would not wake up again.

That prayer also went unheard and, a few hours later, Bunta opened his eyes to find a nearly blinding white light which made him squint. Bunta heard a few voices around him and, from all of them, he recognised only that of his best friend. They seemed to be discussing something of great importance but Bunta didn't have the strength of mind to try and understand what was being said.

'I think he's awake,' Yuuichi said.

'Fujiwara-san,' he heard someone else and, glancing at him, he saw it was Kumiko's boss, Dr Yanagisawa.

The poor guy looked like he'd been crying which was weird, considering that he was a doctor. Yet again, Bunta knew that the old man cared a lot about Kumiko. Thinking about her made him close his eyes so that he could fight the brand new wave of pain which was quickly invading his body making him unable to breathe. He moved from his supine position to adopt an almost foetal one hoping that the pain would somewhat recede.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said.

'Leave me alone,' he managed to say.

'Bunta…'

'Leave me alone,' he repeated.

He then heard someone else whispering something and then, they all left the room leaving Bunta on his own with the pain which seemed to want to kill him but wasn't quite managing to put him out of his misery. His pragmatic self knew that denying the evidence for much longer wasn't realistic and, for some masochistic reason, he started replaying what was now his last conversation with his wife.

His confounded brain remembered how insistent she'd been about that car with the star. He didn't even think anything of it until, once again, his mind started putting pieces together. He tried thinking of cars which had stars on them. He had only started considering options when one of them became as clear as if it had a spotlight on top of it.

'No way,' he whispered to himself.

Getting up, still feeling numb with the pain, he tried to make his way to the door where he hoped he would find someone who could tell him that he was totally nuts. He found Yuuichi there with Dr Yanagisawa and, for some reason, Masashi.

'Bunta…' Yuuichi started.

'I need to speak to the police,' he announced.

'Bunta…'

'It wasn't an accident,' he somehow managed to say, surprising himself with his even tone of voice.

'Bunta…' Yuuichi repeated.

'Kumiko,' he said, saying her name out loud hurt him physically, 'what happened to her wasn't an accident.'

'Bunta…' Masashi said too.

'She told me,' Bunta insisted, he knew this calmness of his had the minutes counted, 'she said someone pushed her off the road. Someone driving a car with a star,' saying it out loud made him come up with the same conclusion, 'I think she was talking about a Mercedes.'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi insisted.

'We need to tell you something,' Masashi said and Bunta noticed how Yuuichi glared at him.

'What is it?' Bunta asked.

'We know what happened,' Masashi replied. At this point Yuuichi was no longer looking at him, in fact, he wasn't looking at anything other than the floor between his shoes, 'I think it's better if we go back in there.'

'Tell me here,' Bunta demanded harshly.

'Bunta…' Masashi said.

'Fujiwara-san,' Dr Yanagisawa intervened, 'I too think it's best if you go back into the room.'

'I want to know what's going on in here and I want to know now,' Bunta barked. His patience gone, he glared at everyone there looking ready to hurt anyone who didn't comply with his demands. Noticing this made Masashi take a step away from him. It was Yuuichi who, bracing himself for the worse decided to speak up:

'The one who did this was Itachi-san.'

'What?' Bunta said, he felt himself go weak on his knees and that made him lean against a nearby wall.

'That's not all,' Yuuichi said, 'he thought it was you. It looks like he's had some problems with his company, he got ruined and his wife divorced him. You know how his kids were no longer talking to him.'

'What…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi said swallowing hard, 'he called Eikichi-san to tell him you were dead.'

'What?' Bunta breathed.

'He said he was going to kill himself too,' Masashi explained, 'the police just found his body.'

'Where's my uncle?' Bunta suddenly asked noticing for the first time that he wasn't there.

'Bunta…'

'No,' Bunta said, 'no way. No…'

'I'm sorry,' Yuuichi said with tears in his eyes.

'No,' Bunta repeated.

'He managed to tell us what had happened,' Masashi explained, 'but, with his heart…'

Bunta failed to hear the rest of Masashi's sentence. Hitting the floor hard, he collapsed and, once again, he let darkness claim him. This time, he prayed even harder that he would not wake up ever again.

_To be continued…_


	83. Chapter Eighty Two

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Chapter Eighty Two_

During the three days which followed Eikichi's and Kumiko's funerals, Yuuichi practically moved to the Fujiwara Tofu Shop while his wife Fuka stayed at their home doing her best to look after little Takumi. The reason why it was important he kept an eye on his best friend became apparent the first night he was there.

'Bunta,' he said trying to pry the bottle of beer from the man's hand, 'you need to stop…'

He didn't finish the sentence for, right at that moment, Bunta got up from the table, toppling it over in the process. Yuuichi observed him stumble across the living room while he tried to drink some more of the beer.

'Bunta…'

'Fuck off,' he mumbled drunkenly.

'Why don't you go to bed?' Yuuichi suggested.

Bunta, of course, ignored him and, bumping with the now upside down table, he fell onto the ground, complaining and swearing viciously. He tried getting back up but, being as drunk as he was, there simply was no way he could manage on his own. For this reason Yuuichi walked towards him to help him up.

'Get off me,' Bunta barked angrily.

'Alright,' Yuuichi said, 'stay down there then.'

Letting him have it his way, Yuuichi limited himself with finding a light blanket to cover him with. Not that he needed it, after all, it was very hot that night and Bunta was so drunk he probably wouldn't even notice the temperature. At any rate, he placed the blanket on top of him, only to notice that Bunta had, at long last, fallen asleep.

'About time he did,' Yuuichi whispered.

He was very worried about his friend and, in all honesty, he didn't really know what else he could do. He knew that, right now, Bunta's heart had such a massive void that he doubted anything would ever fill it up again. He then looked at the pictures which still were on top of the ceremonial altar.

'Kumiko-chan, Eikichi-san,' he muttered, 'what can I do to help him?'

Not that he was expecting them to answer but Yuuichi had grown so desperate that he somehow hoped that Bunta's dead wife and uncle would somehow present him with the solution to this huge problem for, unless some sort of miracle happened, he doubted his best friend would ever recover from the two blows which had turned his life upside down in less than twenty four hours.

Three, he corrected himself thinking of the badly smashed up 2000GT which was currently in Masashi's repair shop waiting to be sent to the scrap yard. No one had had the heart to tell Bunta about it yet but Yuuichi knew that, by now, his best friend had probably figured it out on his own.

The next morning, after having managed to get some sleep himself, he found that Bunta was nowhere to be seen. Freaking out, he walked upstairs and snatched open door after door until he found one he couldn't open: the room Bunta had shared with his wife Kumiko.

'Bunta,' he said, 'are you there?'

No answer.

'Bunta,' he repeated, 'if you're there please let me know. I want..'

'Go away,' he heard Bunta's grunt.

Relieved to hear that his friend was as alright as he could ever be, Yuuichi walked down the stairs trying to decide what to do while he waited for Masashi to take over him. He was about to go to the kitchen to make some coffee when he heard a car parking outside. It was too early to be Masashi.

Opening the shop's front door, he saw Kogashiwa walking towards him.

'Hello,' the guy said.

'Hi,' Yuuichi replied then, he said, 'listen, I don't know if you've…'

'I've heard,' Kogashiwa interrupted him, 'everyone's talking about it.'

'I see,' Yuuichi said.

'Not that I think I can help,' Kogashiwa said, 'but I'd like to tell him something, if that's okay with you.'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi replied shrugging, 'to be honest, at this point, I'm ready to do whatever it takes to get him out of the cocoon he's locked himself into. Maybe seeing you will make him react.'

'Maybe it won't be the reaction you want,' Kogashiwa observed.

'Any reaction is better than what we have now,' Yuuichi countered.

'Fair enough,' the guy replied and, following Yuuichi, the two men walked into the shop. Kogashiwa removed his shoes just before stepping onto the tatami and, from there, he followed Yuuichi upstairs, 'is this his room?' he asked him pointing at the still locked door.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied.

'Alright,' Kogashiwa said to him then, speaking to the door, he raised the tone of his voice and said, 'Fujiwara, it's me. I know you probably don't want to see or speak to anyone but, I wanted to tell you that if it helps, I'm ready to do whatever it takes. Even racing you in Irohazaka.'

Yuuichi felt his eyes grow wide hearing those words. His shock mounted when he heard Bunta opening the door. What came out of it didn't look at all like the handsome man Bunta was. Instead, his hair was a messy mat of dirty hair, his t-shirt was stained in several places and his eyes looked like someone had punched them. It was his voice which scared him the most:

'Get the fuck out of my house,' he said to Kogashiwa.

'Not before you tell us what you want us to do,' the guy said. Yuuichi had to admire his guts.

'I want you to get out of my house,' Bunta said.

'Alright,' Kogashiwa said, 'but you heard me: if you want to, I'll race you.'

'I don't,' Bunta said.

'You don't, what?'

'I don't want to race, not you, not anyone, not ever,' he replied and, with this, he slammed the door closed.

'That went well,' Yuuichi muttered sarcastically.

'Sorry,' Kogashiwa said.

'Don't worry,' Yuuichi replied while the two of them went back downstairs, 'at least you got him out of the room. It's more than I've managed all morning. To be honest with you, I simply don't know what to do anymore.'

'I think you're doing the right thing,' Kogashiwa said.

'I wish it were so,' Yuuichi countered dejectedly.

'What about his kid?' Kogashiwa asked all of a sudden.

'He's with my wife,' Yuuichi replied, 'Bunta doesn't want to see him. He's…'

'Keep trying,' Kogashiwa advised, 'there's no way a father doesn't want to see his own child.'

Personal experience, Yuuichi thought, just the one he didn't have since he hadn't had the luxury of becoming a father. Feeling the old bitter feeling coming back to him, he swallowed and nodded. He then accompanied Kogashiwa towards the door and, after seeing him off, he started thinking of a way to reunite Bunta with his baby son.

Half an hour later, Masashi finally showed up. The first thing he asked was to know whether there had been any changes and, learning there had been none, he nodded his understanding. Just before he left Masashi at the tofu shop Yuuichi issued one last instruction:

'Make sure you check on him regularly.'

'I will,' Masashi promised.

Very reluctantly, Yuuichi walked towards his dark blue RX-4 and, climbing onto it, he grabbed the steering wheel and put his head down onto his arms. He was tired in so many different levels that all he felt like doing was to start crying like a baby. Deciding that it wasn't a productive thing to do, he just turned the car's engine on and started driving towards the petrol station his family ran.

The second day, it was Yuuichi's turn to watch over Bunta again when he opened the front door to the last person he thought he'd see showing up. Yuuichi was so astonished that he didn't even know what to say.

'I'm sorry for coming unannounced,' Takashi Itachi said.

That made him react and, glancing over his shoulder, he hurried out of the door closing it behind him.

'What are _you _doing here?' a bewildered Yuuichi asked.

'I'm…'

'Look,' Yuuichi said, 'no offence or anything but, I hope you're not thinking of speaking to Bunta right now.'

'I…'

'Because, of all the people in the world,' Yuuichi said, 'you and your sister are probably the ones he wants to see the least and, to be perfectly honest, even _I _don't want to see your face.'

'I don't blame you,' Takashi said miserably, 'I just came to apologise for what my father's done. I know nothing I say will change a thing…'

'No,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'it won't. Kumiko-chan was a good woman and Eikichi-san was like a father to Bunta, nothing you say or do will ever bring them back.'

'I know,' Takashi said, 'I know that too well.'

Yuuichi realised that this guy had also lost his father but, for some reason, he didn't really care about it.

'I'm sorry,' Takashi repeated, 'that's all I wanted to say.'

He turned round and without waiting for Yuuichi to say anything else, he climbed into a car which looked every bit like one of those rental cars one could get at the airport. Yuuichi knew that Takashi and his sister Midori were now living in the US so the guy had just probably come to bury his father. If it weren't because of what the Itachi had done to Bunta's family, Yuuichi would have felt sorry for him.

As it was, he had other things to worry about.

Walking back into the house, Yuuichi found that nothing had changed there which was, in a way, good news. He didn't even want to think of what would have happened if Bunta had seen Takashi there but he knew that it wouldn't have been pretty and would have probably ended up with Bunta in prison for murder.

Later on that same day, two other people came to try and visit Bunta only that, this time, Yuuichi felt a ray of hope: if Yoshida and Shin didn't do the trick, he simply couldn't think of many more people who could.

'How is he doing?' Yoshida asked.

'No idea,' Yuuichi replied honestly.

'Can we speak to him?' Shin asked.

'You can try,' Yuuichi replied.

'Okay,' the co-pilot said and, following him up the stairs, they saw Shin standing outside the door. He knocked on it a couple of times and waited for a response which never came, 'alright,' he muttered then, he spoke up, 'Bunta, it's me mate, I just wanted to say this: I know racing is probably the last thing in your mind but, you had my back, quite literally, for over half a year. I don't know if that's what it'll take for you to recover but, know this: I'm here, waiting for you.'

They didn't hear anything coming from the other side of the door.

'Please take care of him,' Shin asked Yuuichi who just nodded.

Without even making an attempt to talk to him, Yoshida simply followed both Shin and Yuuichi downstairs then, producing a white envelope, he gave it to Yuuichi and said:

'Give him this whenever you think he'll be ready to read it.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi said.

'I wish there was something else we could do,' Shin said talking to Yoshida.

'No,' the Toyota designer said, 'right now what he needs the most is time to heal. I'll announce our withdrawal from the Monterrey Rally. I'm not sure he'll even be fit for the Highlander Masters one but that's not so important now.'

'I agree,' Yuuichi said.

'Ah,' Shin added, 'I know that this is the last thing he wants to hear but…I'm getting married next month.'

'Congratulations,' Yuuichi said and, for the first time in ages, he found something to smile about.

'Thanks.'

During that night, Yuuichi had just fallen asleep on his makeshift bed at the living room when he felt someone trample over him. Waking up, he saw Bunta standing there. That freaked Yuuichi out but, doing his best to recover as fast as possible, he got up and said:

'Hey.'

'I'm going out,' Bunta announced.

'What?' Yuuichi asked trying to find the switch so that he could turn the light on. He couldn't so, forgetting about it, he just kicked his shoes in and, running after his best friend, Yuuichi followed Bunta down the street. It was a good thing that it was two o'clock in the morning and no one was around.

They walked towards a vending machine one of those which sold anything, from plasters to warm soup. Yuuichi observed apprehensively while Bunta got some coins into the machine and, punching one of the buttons from the console, he grabbed his purchase: a pack of Mild Seven cigarettes.

'Bunta?' he dared to ask.

Bunta ignored him and, tearing the upper wrapping, he took a cigarette out of the pack and, using a lighter he had with him, he lit the cigarette and took a long puff which, predictably, send him into a fit of coughing. Not happy with that, the instant he stopped coughing, he took another long puff. This time he didn't cough.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi repeated, 'what are you doing?'

'Isn't it obvious?' Bunta asked him dryly.

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, 'you're smoking, you've never smoked before.'

'There's always a first time for everything,' Bunta said. He then took another puff.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi started, 'you know it was the cigarettes which…'

'Don't say it,' Bunta commanded.

'Alright,' Yuuichi accepted then, deciding that maybe that would somehow help, he said, 'give me one.'

'What?' Bunta asked.

'If you start smoking,' Yuuichi replied, 'I want to start smoking too,' he added and, seeing Bunta's incredulous expression, he said, 'I'm serious. I've always done everything you have, haven't I? I'm not going to stop now.'

Bunta considered that and, passing him the pack and the lighter, Yuuichi grabbed one of the white cylinders and, lightening it up, he did his best to take a long puff without coughing. He nearly succeeded and by the third puff, he felt that, somehow, he was beginning to feel slightly more relaxed about everything.

'Let's go back,' he told Bunta.

Shockingly enough, his friend followed him back to the Fujiwara Tofu Shop and, once there, the two men decided to sit down by the living room's low table and smoked yet another cigarette together. Bunta still looked like he'd been ran over by a truck but, at least he was there.

'Bunta,' he tried.

'They're not coming back, are they?' he heard him ask.

The usual knot appeared on his throat when he forced himself to shake his head.

'I'm sorry,' Yuuichi said.

'I just don't get it,' Bunta simply said, 'if I hadn't left that stupid bag at home…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi stopped him, 'don't play the "what if" game, one never wins with that one.'

'What do you mean?'

'There are too many things which could have been different that day,' Yuuichi explained, 'if I hadn't insisted you tried that Carina, if Kumiko-chan had asked Eikichi-san to bring the bag to us, if Fuka hadn't called Kumiko-chan that day maybe she wouldn't have noticed the bag and she wouldn't have gone out. The list goes on forever.'

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi tried again, 'man, I know this the hardest thing you've had to do but…'

'I'm going to bed,' he simply said.

'Okay,' Yuuichi accepted, 'but, please tell me we can talk about it tomorrow. Takumi misses you.'

Something flashed on Bunta's face when Yuuichi mentioned his son's name but it was gone as soon as it appeared. Then, without saying anything else, he walked away and upstairs leaving Yuuichi there, staring at the pack of Mild Seven. Grabbing another cigarette, Yuuichi decided that he had just picked up another bad habit from that crazy Bunta.

The next day, very early in the morning, there was yet another visit.

'Hey,' Keiichi said stepping into the house, 'how is he doing?'

'I don't know,' Yuuichi replied.

'Can I go to see him?' Keiichi asked.

'Sure,' Yuuichi replied, 'just don't expect much, he's…'

'Devastated,' Keiichi finished, 'it's understandable.'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said and, once again, he could see the reason why Bunta liked this kid. Keiichi was bright and never said anything more than what he intended. Plus, the guy had the sort of real talent only someone like Bunta could fully appreciate.

He led Keiichi towards where Bunta slept and, as he was beginning to get used to, he waited to see what this new visitor would do. Keiichi knocked on the door and, with an even tone of voice, he said:

'Hey Bunta, it's me. I know you don't want to talk to anybody…'

Keiichi didn't finish his sentence for, right at that moment, the door opened to reveal Bunta looking more dishevelled than ever. Keiichi didn't even flinch and, instead, he smiled the way he usually did when he saw his idol. Bunta glanced at him and, seeing his smile made his own lips curve into what looked like a smirk.

'…but,' Keiichi continued as though as nothing had happened, 'I wanted you to know that there are heaps of people out there who care about you and who are worried about what's happening to you. I also know you too care about those people so I'm confident you won't give up on us because we sure as hell aren't giving up on you.'

'Is that all?' Bunta asked.

'More or less,' Keiichi replied widening his smile.

'Alright,' Bunta said.

'Also,' Keiichi added, 'you need to take a shower.'

With that, the guy turned round leaving a rather startled looking Bunta behind. Yuuichi felt infinitely grateful for it was the first time someone got a more or less positive reaction out of him. He followed Keiichi all the way to the front door and, once there, the younger guy turned round finally allowing himself to look as worried as he felt.

'Thank you,' he said.

'What for?' Yuuichi asked confused.

'You're the best friend anyone can have,' Keiichi observed, 'he's lucky you're here.'

'He's also the best,' Yuuichi countered, 'in so many levels.'

'I know,' Keiichi said, 'which is why I know he'll pull through this.'

Yuuichi nodded and, after thanking him for the visit, he went to see what Bunta was doing. It turned out that the guy had gone to the bathroom and, doing what Keiichi had just advised him, he was getting ready to take a shower. That made him smile and, shaking his head, he let out a sigh before he went back down to prepare some tea.

The day proceeded so relatively trouble-free that by the end of it, Yuuichi thought that it was finally safe to confront a topic which he'd been avoiding for three entire days: the two month old baby Takumi. He waited until they had finished eating what was Bunta's first meal since his wife and uncle had passed away to start talking.

'Bunta,' he said while his best friend was lighting up another cigarette.

'Mm,' he muttered.

'You know that Takumi's with Fuka,' he said.

Bunta glanced at him squinting his eyes in the way he now did. It looked like his eyes had just decided to remain puffy from all the crying the guy had probably done. Yuuichi swallowed and waited for Bunta's reply. It never came, instead, he took a long puff of his cigarette.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi tried again, 'Takumi…'

'You two should adopt him,' Bunta suddenly said.

'What?' Yuuichi asked unable to believe his ears.

'Isn't it what you two wanted?' Bunta challenged him.

'Bunta,' Yuuichi nearly whispered, His best friend could not be suggesting something as monstrous as that. Only thinking about it made Yuuichi so mad that he didn't know what to do, 'you can't be serious,' he ultimately said.

'I am,' Bunta replied.

Then, something within Yuuichi snapped and, getting up from the table, he took a couple of steps towards his best friend. He then grabbed the front of Bunta's t-shirt and with brute strength he didn't think he had, he lifted him off the floor and, with the other hand, Yuuichi punched Bunta so hard on the face that he got sent flying across the room.

'What the…' Bunta managed to say while he scrambled to get back up.

'You fucking bastard,' Yuuichi hissed not allowing him to speak, 'you…I get what you're going through and it's the only reason why I won't beat the crap out of you right here and now. But if you try, if you dare insult our friendship any further, I swear for all that's holy that I'll…'

'Yuuichi…'

'You stupid fucking bastard,' he repeated, 'how can you say that to _me_? How could you think of doing that to _your_ son? Do you even know what I would give, what Fuka and I would give to be able to call someone _our_ son?'

'Yuuichi…'

'Takumi is _your_ son,' he carried on talking though his tears, 'nothing will ever change that.'

'I know,' Bunta finally said, 'I'm sorry, it was a very stupid idea.'

'Yes,' Yuuichi agreed furiously, 'it was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas,' he added.

'I'm sorry,' Bunta said again, he rubbed his face which was beginning to get violently red, 'I never knew you had such a powerful punch, you know?'

'Neither did I,' Yuuichi confessed.

'I guess I deserved it,' Bunta admitted.

'You did,' Yuuichi agreed mercilessly.

The two men stared at each other from opposite sides of the room until, slowly, the two of them started walking towards the middle. There, Yuuichi placed his hand onto Bunta's shoulder and, before they knew it, they had their arms around each other in what was one of the first times the two friends hugged.

'Idiot,' Yuuichi muttered.

A few moments later, as if none of it had happened, they were sitting back at the table smoking a calming cigarette when Bunta looked at Yuuichi with a very serious expression on his face and said:

'Could you bring him home tomorrow?'

'Of course,' Yuuichi said then, he dared to ask, 'what are you going to do?'

'No idea,' Bunta replied honestly.

'You don't want to go back to racing, do you?' Yuuichi stated more than asked.

'No,' Bunta replied, 'I…I don't think I can do it anymore.'

'Fair enough,' Yuuichi said then, he asked, 'what about running this place?'

Bunta looked around himself and, nodding once, he said:

'Why not?'

Yuuichi knew that the racing world had probably just lost the best driver ever and he found it slightly depressing that such a great man would end up running a tofu shop but, again, he knew that as long as Bunta could begin to be the happy guy he'd been up to three days ago, he didn't really care if he was a racer, a mechanic or a freaking tofu man.

_To be continued…_


	84. Epilogue

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Epilogue _

Shibukawa – Spring of 1983

Bunta heard the phone ringing from the shop's working area where he was preparing the tofu he would then deliver to the hotels by the Akina Lake, just as he'd done every day for the past five years. Grabbing a towel, he dried his hands and picked up the receiver.

'Fujiwara Tofu Shop,' he replied.

'Hey, it's me,' he heard a very familiar sounding voice say.

'Yoshida,' he said, 'what's up?'

'Nothing much,' Yoshida replied, 'I just heard that you're finally going to replace that Bellett.'

'Yes,' Bunta confirmed, 'it's kind of getting old. Do you have any ideas?'

'As a matter of fact,' the Toyota engineer replied, 'I would like you to come down to Toyota City one of these days. There's a little something we'd like you test drive for us.'

'Mmm…let me think about it,' Bunta said.

'Take your time,' Yoshida proposed, 'we'll be here and you have my number.'

'I do,' Bunta said.

'Good,' Yoshida said, 'I'll see you soon,' he then added and, before Bunta could protest, he hanged up. Bunta stared at the receiver before he put it back onto its cradle. He then looked at the table where his five year old son was busy playing with his crayons.

'Hey kid,' he said.

'Mmm?' the boy said without looking at him.

'What do you say if we go for a long drive?'

Takumi just shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care either way. Bunta let out a soft chuckle and went back to finish his work at the shop. While he did that, he thought of what Yoshida had told him and found the offer to be rather tempting. Knowing Yoshida, he expected the designer to come up with some amazing design which would surprise everyone at the next car show in Tokyo.

For this reason, a couple of days later, he got Takumi on the front seat of Eikichi's Bellett and, after making sure his seatbelt was properly fastened, he climbed behind the wheel of the sixteen year old car and turning its engine on, he tried to remember the first time he heard its powerful roar, twelve long years ago.

So many things had happened since then.

Thinking about all of it made Bunta feel very nostalgic but, he only needed to look at the little boy sitting next to him to make himself smile. Takumi certainly wasn't anything like he'd expected the kid to be. To begin with, the boy was so serious all the time that it was hard to believe he was his son.

In fact, Takumi very often reminded him of his mother when she was a fifteen year old brat. He had the same kind of absent expression which could turn into a defiant one if one ticked him off. Thankfully, making him really angry seemed to be pretty difficult and, for the most part, Takumi was a peaceful little boy who liked minding his own business.

In that, he was very similar to himself, Bunta thought with a hint of fatherly pride.

Soon enough, the two of them found themselves in front of the Toyota Testing Department which, nowadays was looking more and more like a NASA laboratory. The guard at the booth was surprised to see the old Isuzu and did a double take when he saw a little boy sitting in the passenger seat.

'We're here to see Yoshida,' Bunta announced.

'Ah,' the guard said, 'I'll call him immediately.'

A few moments later, both father and son climbed out of the car and saw Yoshida walking towards them. As whenever he saw the kid, Yoshida smiled and, before he greeted the father, he ruffled Takumi's hair.

'He's grown again,' he commented.

'Yeah,' Bunta said, 'he doesn't eat much, yet he keeps making his trousers too short for him.'

'But you're lucky,' Yoshida countered, 'he's such a well behaved kid. Mine is a human earthquake.'

Bunta just nodded his agreement then, he said:

'So, where's that little thing you wanted to show me?'

'Here,' Yoshida said making them go through a big metallic gate. There, standing right in the middle of a huge garage, Bunta saw a compact-size hatchback painted all in white except the base which was coloured in black. The car had retractable lights and while it looked decent enough, it certainly wasn't the speed machine he expected, 'what do you think?'

'That's…'

'A Toyota Corolla,' Yoshida replied, 'it's the new Sprinter Trueno AE86.'

'I know,' Bunta said frowning a little.

'What's wrong?' Yoshida asked sounding worried.

'Nothing,' Bunta replied, 'I just thought that you wanted to show me that SA-X project you were working on.'

'The MR2?' Yoshida asked him, 'nah, that car would be too small for what you need it for.'

'True,' Bunta admitted.

'At any rate,' Yoshida said, 'what do you think? If you want, you could take it out for a spin and let us know what you think, maybe, for old times' sake you could even tell us what you'd like to see improved.'

'Ah,' Bunta said, 'I see what you want now.'

'Yeah,' a grinning Yoshida admitted, 'so, have I tempted you enough or do I need to show you what's under the hood? Or maybe you want to…'

'I'll do it,' Bunta interrupted him.

'I knew you wouldn't let me down!' Yoshida exclaimed.

'Just tell me one thing,' Bunta asked him, 'what's in it for me?'

'Well,' Yoshida said getting serious, 'if you like the car, you get to keep it.'

'Free?' Bunta asked and, before he could get a reply, he shook his head and said, 'no way.'

'Why not?' Yoshida asked frowning a little.

'Because it wouldn't be right,' Bunta said, 'not after what I did.'

'Bunta,' Yoshida said, 'no one blames you for pulling off the championship when you did. We all know that you were in a horrible place back then and that you had other more important priorities,' he said this while looking at little Takumi who stood there, looking lost in his own world, 'besides,' the designer continued, 'we at Toyota have basically designed this car thanks to the tips you gave us when you were working with us.'

'Really?' Bunta asked sounding surprised.

'Yes,' Yoshida replied.

'But still,' Bunta said, 'I want to pay at least its commercial value.'

Yoshida looked at him as if he was trying to decide whether to keep arguing or just accept Bunta's conditions, ultimately choosing the second option. Then, walking towards the car, he pulled the key out of his pocket and, opening the passenger's side, he glanced at Takumi and said:

'Hey kid, you want to try riding in this car?'

Takumi looked at his father and after Bunta nodded, he just walked without any kind of hurry towards the AE86 and, without needing Yoshida's help, he climbed into the seat and stayed still until Bunta came to help him do his seatbelt up.

'You like it?' Bunta asked his son.

'It's a car,' Takumi replied with his usual monotone.

'That's right,' Bunta laughed softly.

He then glanced at Yoshida who had been observing the exchange with utmost interest. The designer gave the key to Bunta and, closing Takumi's door as carefully as possible, the two men walked towards the driver's side there, Bunta climbed for the first time behind the steering wheel of the AE86.

'Not bad,' he commented.

'I'm glad to hear it,' Yoshida said then, he added, 'I'll see you tomorrow at this time?'

'What about my car?' Bunta asked.

'Don't worry,' Yoshida said, 'we'll keep it here. We won't do anything to it, even if it's _that_ Isuzu Bellett.'

Bunta nodded and, turning the engine on, he waited till Yoshida opened the gate and then, waving at his old friend with one hand, he took off. He noticed that this AE86 wasn't one hundred percent stock and that he really liked what he felt under his feet. For the first time in ages, he started "listening" to a car.

By the time they made it back to Shibukawa it was already getting dark and Bunta decided that it was the perfect time to do what he had in mind. On their way to Mt Akina, they passed by the Tachibana's Petrol Station where he saw Yuuichi standing there, talking to one of his new recruits, some kid from high school.

'Hey!' Yuuichi exclaimed seeing his best friend there, 'did you finally get a new car?'

'Maybe,' Bunta replied, 'I'm taking it for a test drive, want to come?'

'Oh no,' Yuuichi hurried to say, 'but you've got company already,' he added seeing Takumi.

'Yeah,' Bunta replied smiling proudly.

'Be careful and don't do any crazy stuff with your kid in there,' Yuuichi advised.

'Would I?' Bunta asked sounding all too innocent then, just as he had arrived, he left making the tyres screech while he made the car turn into the main road. Yuuichi observed the manoeuvre and, shaking his head, he continued explaining the work to his latest newbie.

Fifteen minutes later, Bunta turned the car around at the parking area by the Akina Lake and, glancing at his son, he saw that Takumi was, once again, looking supremely bored. Bunta then launched the AE86 downhill, covering the first few corners by grip so that he could fully test its braking power.

'Not bad,' he muttered.

He then balanced his footwork, turned the steering wheel and, at the first right hander he found, he delighted himself with a perfect inertia drift. He carried on driving like that up until he got to the five hairpins which he cleared using the gutter run in all of them.

'Not bad at all,' Bunta repeated.

He got downhill with the clear sensation that with this AE86, he'd just found a perfect match. Feeling really happy for the first time in ages, he glanced at the passenger seat to find that his son Takumi was sleeping soundly. Bunta let out a soft chuckle and, shaking his head once again, he smiled at himself, hoping that someday, in his sleep, his son would also be dreaming of Akina.

_To be concluded..._


	85. Bonus Epilogue

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Bonus Epilogue_

Shibukawa – Spring 1991

Thirteen year old Takumi Fujiwara had just fallen asleep with his light on and the latest volume of his favourite manga still in his hands when he was awaken by a rather loud knock on his bedroom's door. Thinking he had imagined it, he turned round and tried to carry on sleeping.

'Hey Takumi,' he heard his father's voice through the door.

The boy finally opened his eyes and, looking at his alarm clock, he saw that it was one o'clock in the morning. Sighing heavily, he threw himself out of bed and padding across his bedroom, he opened the door to see what new crazy thing his father wanted him to do.

'What?' Takumi said sleepily.

'Get dressed,' was Bunta's shocking request.

'What?' Takumi repeated this time sounding slightly angry.

'Get dressed,' Bunta repeated, 'and don't make me say it again.'

'Dad,' Takumi said trying to make his father see reason, 'it's only one o'clock in the morning.'

'I know,' Bunta replied giving him one of his insufferable know-it-all looks, 'come on, hurry up.'

Shaking his head, Takumi went back into his bedroom and grabbing his school's tracksuit which had a brand new patch announcing that he was now in second year of junior high, he threw it on and, using his hands to comb his straight, light brown hair, he went downstairs where he found his father waiting for him not so patiently.

'What do you want?' Takumi asked him.

'Come with me,' Bunta replied, 'we're going out.'

'What?' Takumi repeated, 'why?'

'Because I say so,' Bunta replied and, without waiting to see if his son followed him, the man grabbed his own jacket and the keys to his eight year old AE86. Knowing better than to try and argue with his father, Takumi hung his head in resignation and went to put his trainers on. He found his father climbing into his car and it became obvious to the boy that his father wanted to go somewhere with the car.

'He's nuts,' Takumi muttered to himself.

As soon as they were on their way, Takumi leant his head against the window and closed his eyes so he could fall back asleep when, all of a sudden, his father did something with the car which sent his head back into an upright position. He then looked at his father with an angry frown and said:

'What are you doing?'

'Stay awake,' Bunta ordered him, 'I want you to pay attention to what I do.'

'Dad…'

'Just do what I say,' Bunta said.

'Alright,' Takumi finally accepted. This was getting weirder and weirder but since he'd never fully understood his father, the boy limited himself to doing what his old man had ordered him to do. He started paying attention and noticed how his father punched the gears and turned the steering wheel while balancing everything with a very refined pedal work. Not that he understood any of it really.

At long last, they got all the way up and there, his father parked the car at the large car park near the lake. Then, his father turned off the engine and climbing out of the car, he said:

'Get out.'

Takumi complied and once outside the car, he saw his father motioning towards him. He didn't even have the time to formulate any questions when he found himself being pushed towards the driver's side and, before he knew it, he was sitting behind the steering wheel.

'Dad…' he started.

Bunta waited until he was sitting on the passenger's seat and, only then he turned to face his very worried looking soon. He smiled a little and, taking a deep breath, he proceeded to explain to his son what he wanted him to do with the car.

'WHAT?' Takumi exclaimed now looking positively freaked out.

'You heard me,' Bunta said sounding slightly amused.

'Dad,' Takumi pointed out, 'I'm only thirteen.'

'I know,' Bunta said with a smirk, 'I'm your father, remember?'

'Yeah,' Takumi replied, 'and you should know that I'm not legally allowed to drive yet.'

'So?' Bunta asked as if he found the issue rather inconsequential, 'it's alright, don't worry about it.'

Takumi looked at his father and, for the first time, he decided that maybe his father really was crazy but, yet again, he thought that maybe if he did what his old man wanted now he would be allowed to go back to bed and get some much needed sleep. After all, it was a school day and he had a test first thing in the morning.

'Alright,' Takumi decided, 'I'll do it.'

'That's my boy,' Bunta said.

With this, Takumi started the engine and, just as his father had instructed him, he pressed the clutch, entered the first gear and, releasing the handbrake, he proceeded to…make the engine stall.

'Eh?' he said.

'Don't worry,' Bunta said, 'try again, you'll get it right eventually.'

Shaking his head in disbelief, Takumi turned the engine back on, pressed the clutch and entered the first gear. He then released the clutch slowly while he pressed the accelerator and, right then, the AE86 started moving forward. For some reason his still sleepy brain could not understand, he somehow liked what he felt.

'Well done,' Bunta said after a while.

'Can we go home now?' Takumi asked him.

'Yep,' Bunta thankfully replied, 'we'll come back tomorrow.'

'Why?' Takumi asked him.

'Well,' Bunta said, 'even if you're my son, it will still take a while before you learn how to drive.'

Unable to believe his ears, Takumi let out another sigh and, after swapping seats with his father, they proceeded downhill. Seeing his father's drifts made Takumi believe that _that _was the only way to tackle this particular mountain pass. In the meantime, he decided that the following evening he would go to bed a little earlier.

**THE END**


	86. Making of

A/N: Useless and random rant coming up...

**Dreaming of Akina**

_Making of_

During the thirty five months it's taken me to finish Dreaming of Akina, I've sometimes been asked how I work on my stories and, taking this one as an example, I'll now try to explain where it all started and the 'tools' I used in order to create what is now the longest story I've ever written.

It all began while I was working on the final chapters of Programmed Lives – Final Stage. As it usually happens when I'm about to finish a story, I started thinking of what to write next, contemplating several topics which I knew had not been covered before by any of the existing Initial D fanfictions then, all of a sudden and without any previous warning, a question formed inside my head:

"_How did Bunta Fujiwara become a racing legend, meet Takumi's mother and what happened to her?"_

That single question made me start wondering about Bunta's highly mysterious past and, over the following days, I started gathering ideas using a simple txt file which sort of became the base for the storyline of the still untitled story. I then left that file so that I could focus on finishing Programmed Lives – Final Stage.

Only then, I did what I usually do before writing a fanfiction: I re-watched Initial D and re-read the manga, focusing on the too few parts where we got some insight on Bunta's life. Once I did that, I had a clear idea of where I wanted the story to go but, before I could start typing, there was something else I needed to do:

Research. Lots of it.

Seeing as the story had to be based in the seventies, there were a lot of historical facts I needed to check in order to make sure that I didn't write about something which didn't even exist back then. I also needed to see which cars were available throughout the 12 years I wanted to cover in the story and, together with this, I also needed to research on the different motorsports' disciplines of the period.

Being the history and car lover that I am, I absolutely loved that part of my "work" and for many days I delighted myself with reading stuff about great people like Akio Yoshida and Keiichi Tsuchiya. I also learned heaps of details about cars like the Toyota 2000GT and the different versions of the Nissan Fairlady and Skyline.

With a huge folder full of pictures of cars and files containing dates and facts about circuits, companies and other useful information, I finally had what I needed to start building up the List of Characters (which you can find at the bottom of this rant of mine) as well as the first draft of the main storyline.

Since I'm not good enough to do it otherwise, I can only write the chapters chronologically, which means that when I start writing the prologue, I need to have the summary for the following two or three chapters. This, not only helps me write faster but it also makes it possible to keep things under my control so that the characters don't take over and do their own thing. Any of you who has written a story knows what I'm talking about.

In addition to that, having a chapter-by-chapter summary allows me to have a definite time line with all the events and when they occur so that I can go back to it when needed. This helps me prevent continuity errors which is a personal pet-peeve of mine as well as having a clear picture of what's already happened.

With all the material gathered and the ideas more or less organised, I was finally ready to start writing but, I still didn't have a title. For this, I remembered something Bunta said about the fact that he drove on Akina even in his dreams and, putting one plus one together, Dreaming of Akina was born.

Now, I have a confession to make: the original storyline wasn't supposed to be longer than maybe twenty or thirty chapters. In fact, I didn't even think of making it half as long as it ended up being because I knew what would happen if I did. I would want to split the story in two or more parts and I really didn't want to do that.

Alas, for the story to cover all twelve years and the many, many events I had planned, I needed a lot of space and, for this, I needed a lot more than just twenty to thirty chapters which meant that I was writing chapter forty-something and I wasn't anywhere near the end of it. On top of it, I got quite sick.

It was time for me to take a break.

For several months, I didn't even go near the folder where I had all the material for the story and I hid my Initial D DVDs so that I would not feel tempted to watch it knowing well how addictive that series is and that it might even drive me to write another entirely different fanfiction leaving Dreaming of Akina unfinished.

Then, back in July 2009 I decided I was ready to start again and, re-reading what I had written of the story plus what I had in mind for the rest of it made me want to change a few things of the following chapters. I had to re-write some of the summaries I already had and refresh my memory on the historical facts.

And I also needed to get back into writing.

For this reason, I wrote Match Point, a Prince of Tennis fanfic, which was something short enough for me to finish it fast and which served me to get used to writing full length chapters once again. In a way, that story was some sort of test-drive to see if I was ready to re-start Dreaming of Akina as well as something I needed to get out of my system.

Thinking that the final story is over seven hundred pages long in a single Word document still scares me so much that I prefer not to think about it. My husband has suggested to me that I get it somehow printed and bound so that, one day, I can re-read it as if it were a proper book. I said that I'd consider it.

As for now, after I finish typing this, I'll take a short break while I decide what I do next.

Much love to you for reading this and thanks a lot for your support,

Sanae.

**LIST OF CHARACTERS (in order of appearance):**

Surname/Name

Role

First Appearance

Car

Current Status

**Fujiwara Bunta **

Main Character

Prologue

White 1968 Toyota 2000GT/Panda Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86

Takes over the Fujiwara Tofu Shop

**Yoshida Noriko**

Bunta's Neighbour in Tokyo

Prologue

n/a

Deceased

**Akanishi Yoshiki**

Old Harbour Team Leader

ch1

Yellow 1971 Mazda Cosmos

Deceased

**Matsumoto Takao**

Old Harbour Team Member

ch1

Dark Gold 1970 Mazda RX2

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Fujiwara Eikichi **

FTS Owner, Bunta's Uncle

ch2

White 1967 Isuzu Bellett 1600 GT

Deceased

**Tachibana Yuuichi**

Bunta's best friend

ch3

Dark Blue 1971 Mazda RX2/Dark Blue 1977 Mazda RX4

Takes over the Tachibana Petrol Station

**Miyazaki Tatsuo**

Yuuichi's schoolmate

ch4

n/a

Proud family man.

**Mitsui Keitaro**

Yuuichi's schoolmate

ch4

n/a

Proud family man.

**Suzuki Masashi**

Akina Firebolts Team Leader

ch4

Red 1970 Nissan 240Z

After Akina Firebolts dissolve, takes over Nitta-san.

**Aihara Shinobu**

Former Akina Firebolts Team Leader

ch5

White 1970 Toyota Celica

Retired - Proud family man.

**Mizuno Seiko**

Bunta's 1st Love Interest

ch5

n/a

Lives in New York City.

**Kamenashi Fuka**

Yuuichi's girlfriend/wife

ch5

n/a

Lives with husband Yuuichi.

**Nitta Shinichiro **

Junichi's Best Friend, Bunta's 1st boss

ch5

n/a

Gives up his Repairs Shop to Masashi Suzuki.

**Watanabe Makoto**

Akagi Racer

ch6

Black 1969 Mitsubishi Colt GTO

Retired - Proud family man.

**Yoshimura Miyoko**

Eikichi's Former Fiancée

ch7

n/a

Married.

**Fujiwara Junichi**

Bunta's Father

ch7

n/a

Deceased

**Fujiwara Akemi**

Bunta's Mother

ch7

n/a

Deceased

**Minamoto Taki**

Mechanic at Nitta's Repairs Shop

ch10

n/a

Continues to work under Masashi Suzuki.

**Mizuno Kumiko**

Seiko's Sister, Bunta's Wife

ch10

n/a

Deceased

**Kogashiwa Ken**

Bunta's arch-rival. Irohazaka Racer.

ch12

Midnight Blue 1972 Nissan KPGC10 2000GT

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Mitsuri Shun**

Myogi Racer

ch14

Red 1970 Subaru Leone

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Nakajima Ryo**

Seiko's Husband. Fan of Bunta.

ch17

n/a

Proud Family Man

**Tsuchiya Keiichi**

Usui Racer, Bunta's Friend/Rival

ch23

Honda S600, Nissan KPGC10 GT-R

Becomes Drift King

**Izumi Kazuki**

Akina Firebolts Team Member

ch25

Dark Green 1975 Honda Civic 1200

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Takabe Masaki**

Akina Firebolts Team Member

ch25

n/a

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Yamada Yuri**

Akina Firebolts Team Member

ch25

n/a

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Iwase Satoshi**

Tsuchizaka Racer. Kyoko's Father.

ch28

Black 1970 Mazda R100

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Takasugi Reiji**

Akina Firebolts Team Member

ch29

n/a

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Nakashima Saburo**

Wangan Racer

ch30

Black 1969 Toyota 2000GT

n/a

**"Taka-san" Takayuki**

Nitta's Shop Deputy Manager

ch33

n/a

Retired.

**Itachi Midori**

Bunta's 1st Wife

ch36

Light Blue Daihatsu Compagno

Lives in L.A.

**Itachi Ichiro**

Itachi Racing Team Owner

ch36

Silver 1972 Mercedes

Deceased

**Itachi Takashi**

Bunta's 1st Team-Mate

ch37

Black 1972 Porsche 911

Lives in L.A.

**Uesugi Norihito**

Itachi Racing Team Mechanic

ch37

n/a

n/a

**Yoshida Akio**

Toyota Design Dept.

ch44

n/a

Toyota Working at Toyota's Testing Dept.

**Sato Hiroyuki**

Tochigi Racer. Iwase's Friend

ch47

Dark Brown Honda S800

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Katayama Nobuaki**

Toyota Engineer

ch47

n/a

Toyota Projects AE86's Engine.

**Omura Senkichi**

Fuji Freshman Series Racer

ch48

Dark Red Mitsubishi GTO

Deceased

**Ueda Hiroshi**

Nissan's PD3 Engineer

ch54

Nissan Continues to be involved with Nissan.

**Sakamoto Tatsuya**

Sakamoto Racing Team Owner

ch56

Red Nissan JTCC Team Manager

**Yamazaki Tetsu**

JTCC Racer

ch57

Black/Orange Mazda RX3

Retired.

**Yanagisawa Yuu**

Doctor - Kumiko's Boss

ch59

n/a

Retired.

**Shiraishi Satoshi**

JTCC Racer

ch65

Blue Honda 1300 Coupe

Moves on to BTCC in the UK

**Sanada Shin**

Bunta's Rally Co-Pilot

ch69

Panda Celica GT

Retired - Proud Family Man

**Sakurai Hidetoshi**

Bunta's Rally Team Manager

ch69

n/a

Retires - Moves to Okinawa

**Fujikawa Akira**

Bunta's Rally Team Mechanic

ch70

n/a

Finds employment in Katayama's Dept.

**Murakami Ryu**

Subaru Rally Driver

ch70

Elecric Blue Subaru Leone

Winners of the 1978 Rally Champ

**Nishimoto Tatsuya **

Subaru Rally Co-Pilot

ch70

Elecric Blue Subaru Leone

Winners of the 1978 Rally Champ

**Orioka Seiichi**

Nissan Rally Driver

ch76

Datsun Violet

Winners of the 1977 Rally Champ

**Kimura Satomi**

Gynecologist

ch77

n/a Delivers Takumi

**Tegoshi Yuta**

Nissan Rally Co-Pilot

ch78

Datsun Violet

Winners of the 1977 Rally Champ

**Fujiwara Takumi **

Bunta's son

ch80

n/a

Will inherit the AE86


End file.
